Bank firms lead gainers; tech falls
Big-name companies notched gains on Wall Street on Tuesday, bringing the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Dow Jones industrial average to new highs for the second day this week.
A slide in technology stocks pulled the Nasdaq down. Small-company stocks also lagged.
Banks and other financial stocks led the gainers as the Federal Reserve met to discuss interest rates. The Fed is expected to raise rates for the third time this year Wednesday, which would enable banks to charge more to lend money.
Technology stocks fell the most. Energy stocks declined along with crude oil prices. Bitcoin futures fell on their second day of trading.
Even though inflation has remained low, the Federal Reserve has seen a path to gradually raise rates as the economy and labor market have strengthened. The central bank is widely expected to announce a quarter-percentage-point increase in short-term interest rates Wednesday.
The prospect of another rate hike helped lift bank shares. Goldman Sachs Group rose 3% to $257.68.
Corporate earnings, outlooks and deal news also helped move markets Tuesday.
Several shopping mall owners advanced after Australian company Westfield agreed to be bought by France’s Unibail-Rodamco. Macerich climbed 5% to $66.47. Simon Property Group rose 2.5% to $166.35. GGP ticked up 1.6% to $23.77.
Comcast rose 2.8% to $39.51 after the Wall Street Journal reported that the cable TV and entertainment company was no longer in talks to buy parts of 21st Century Fox.
Edison International slid 6% to $68.58 after the utility said it believes authorities are looking into the possibility that California wildfires started at one of its facilities.
Tech stocks, which have been the best-performing sector this year, made up a big portion of the laggards. Micron Technology fell 2.7% to $41.86.
Energy prices fell. Benchmark U.S. crude slid 85 cents, or 1.5%, to $57.14 a barrel. Brent crude sank $1.35, or 2.1%, to $63.34 a barrel.
The decline in oil prices weighed on energy sector stocks. Cabot Oil & Gas retreated 2.6% to $27.60.
In other energy futures trading, wholesale gasoline fell 3 cents to $1.70 a gallon. Heating oil fell 2 cents to $1.93 a gallon. Natural gas sank 15 cents, or 5.3%, to $2.68 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Gold fell $5.20 to $1,241.70 an ounce. Silver fell 12 cents to $15.67 an ounce. Copper rose 1 cent to $3.02 a pound.
The dollar rose to 113.58 yen from 113.52 yen. The euro fell to $1.1737 from $1.1786.
Bitcoin futures fell $525, or 2.8%, to $18,020 on the Chicago Board Options Exchange Futures Exchange. The price of the digital currency has soared this year; it began 2017 under $1,000.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.41% from 2.39%.