U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Lower Amid Lingering Interest Rate Concerns

Stocks have moved mostly lower in morning trading on Tuesday, although selling pressure has remained relatively subdued. The Nasdaq briefly turned positive but has since rejoined the Dow and the S&P 500 in negative territory.

Currently, the major averages are all in the red. The Dow is down 258.87 points or 0.7 percent at 35,810.00, the Nasdaq is down 65.89 points or 0.4 percent at 14,876.94 and the S&P 500 is down 28.53 points or 0.6 percent at 4,641.76.

The weakness on Wall Street comes on the heels of the rebound seen in the previous session, when stocks largely offset an early sell-off.

Lingering concerns about the outlook for interest rates may be weighing the markets as the Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s nomination for another term.

In prepared remarks, Powell highlighted elevated inflation as a result of supply chain issues and said the Fed would use all of its tools to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched.

“We can begin to see that the post-pandemic economy is likely to be different in some respects,” Powell said. “The pursuit of our goals will need to take these differences into account.”

He added, “To that end, monetary policy must take a broad and forward-looking view, keeping pace with an ever-evolving economy.”

The question-and-answer portion of the hearing is likely to attract attention, although Powell is unlikely to make definitive statements about the outlook for monetary policy.

Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, although notable weakness has emerged among transportation stocks. Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the Dow Jones Transportation Average is down by 1.4 percent.

Interest rate-sensitive utilities and commercial real estate stocks have also moved to the downside in morning trading, while energy stocks are moving higher along with the price of crude oil.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slid by 0.9 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index declined by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have shown a notable rebound following recent weakness. While the German DAX Index has jumped by 1.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.7 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have pulled back near the unchanged line after moving modestly higher in early trading. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by less than a basis point at 1.776 percent.