Indexes shake off early slump, eke out gains

Stock indexes on Wall Street ended with meager gains Tuesday, as a late-afternoon rally led by technology companies stemmed the market's losses after an early slump.

The S&P eked out a gain of 0.2% after having been down 2.2% earlier in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4%, while the techheavy Nasdaq composite closed 1.7% higher.

The S&P 500 rose 6.06 points to 3,831.39. The Nasdaq rose 194.39 points to 11.322.24. The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained in the red, losing 129.44 points to 30,967.82.

Small-company stocks also bounced back after a downbeat start. The Russell 2000 rose 13.57 points, or 0.8%, to 1,741.33.

Wall Street has been closely watching the latest economic updates for more clues on how inflation is affecting the economy and whether that could shift the Fed's position on rate hikes. Wall Street will get a closer look at the employment market on Friday when the the government releases employment data for June.

Technology and communication stocks staged a turnaround and ended higher Tuesday. Apple rose 1.9% and Facebook parent Meta climbed 5.1%. Home Depot rose 1.7%, one of several big retailers that gained ground.

Energy companies had some of the biggest losses as the price of U.S. crude oil slumped 8.2% to $99.50 a barrel. That's the lowest price since May 10, when it settled at $96.87 a barrel. Exxon Mobil fell 3.1% and Hess dropped 6.8%.

Banks fell along with bond yields. The yield on the 10year Treasury, which helps set mortgage rates, fell to 2.82% from 2.90% late Friday. Bank of America dropped 1%.