Investors move cash; indexes slip

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks slipped Tuesday as smaller companies and banks took their worst losses in a few months. With stock indexes near record highs, investors moved some money into big-dividend stocks like real estate companies.

The Nasdaq composite fell 18.65 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,767.78. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dipped 0.49 points to 2,590.64. The Dow Jones industrial average added 8.81 points to 23,557.23, another record high. The Russell 2000 index tumbled 18.87 points, or 1.3 percent, to 1,479.09.

Banks and other financial companies have been climbing for the past two months, but Tuesday they skidded as interest rates moved lower. Small, domestically focused companies had their worst day since mid-August as House Republicans began making changes to their tax bill. Their Senate counterparts are expected to introduce their own bill soon. Smaller companies tend to pay higher tax rates than their bigger peers because they make more of their money in the U.S. and don’t have as many ways to reduce their taxes.

“Financials would be a primary beneficiary of a 20 percent corporate tax rate because they’re domestically based and they pay domestic taxes,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial.

While the pace of company earnings is slowing, they continued to hold sway over parts of the market. Travel booking companies TripAdvisor and Priceline both plunged while Weight Watchers continued to surge after it raised its forecasts for the year. The weight-loss company has more than quadrupled in value this year.

Banks fell along with bond yields and interest rates. Both have moved lower over the past few days, which reduces the profits banks make from lending. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 2.31 percent from 2.32 percent.

JPMorgan Chase fell $2.03, or 2 percent, to $98.75 and U.S. Bancorp lost $1.40, or 2.6 percent, to $53.45. First Financial Bancshares, a smaller, Texasbased bank, fell $1.15, or 2.5 percent, to $44.40.

Household-goods makers, utilities, and other companies that pay big dividends did better than the rest of the market. Drugstore and pharmacybenefits company CVS Health jumped $2.15, or 3.2 percent, to $68.95 to recover some of its recent losses.

Real estate, household goods and phone companies have lagged far behind the S&P 500 this year. The stocks are generally seen as cautious investments, and investors look for them when they are worried about market volatility. But investors have been betting on improved economic growth rather than looking for safety.

Travel website TripAdvisor plunged after its third-quarter revenue fell short of analyst estimates. Booking service Priceline Group had a betterthan-expected quarter, but its forecasts for the current quarter disappointed Wall Street. Analysts said the company is spending a lot of money on advertising, but that may pay off with increased market share. TripAdvisor sank $9.18, or 23.2 percent, to a five-year low of $30.35 while Priceline lost $257.28, or 13.5 percent, to $1,645.72. Expedia shed $3.37, or 2.7 percent, to $119.61.

However Royal Caribbean Cruises jumped $3.89, or 3.1 percent, to $129.23 after it had a strong quarter even though its business was disrupted by three major hurricanes.

Wholesale gasoline lost 1 cent to $1.82 a gallon. Heating oil fell 2 cents to $1.92 a gallon. Natural gas rose 2 cents to $3.15 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold lost $5.80 to $1,275.80 an ounce. Silver fell 30 cents to $16.94 an ounce. Copper declined 7 cents to $3.09 a pound.

The dollar rose to 113.87 yen from 113.77 yen. The euro fell to $1.1589 from $1.1606.