FINANCIAL MARKETS
The major U.S. stock indexes barely budged Tuesday on another day of mostly light trading ahead of the Easter holiday weekend.
Technology stocks declined the most, while real estate companies notched the biggest gains. Oil prices recovered after an early slide. Bond yields fell and the price of gold rose as investors kept an eye on rising geopolitical tensions.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 3.38 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,353.78. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 6.72 points, or 0.03 percent, to 20,651.30. The Nasdaq composite index slid 14.15 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,866.77.
Small-company stocks bucked the downward trend. The Russell 2000 index rose 9.86 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,376.95. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange.
Major indexes started off in the red early Tuesday and held their course the rest of the day as traders monitored the latest headlines on North Korea and Russia-U.S. relations.
North Korea said there could be “catastrophic consequences” after the U.S. ordered the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its battle group to waters off the Korean Peninsula. Nerves were already on edge with U.S.-South Korea war games underway, following recent ballistic missile launches by the North that have rattled neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Moscow to meet with Russian officials about the Syria civil war.
Wall Street’s so-called “fear index,” known as the VIX, surged 7.3 percent to its highest level since November. Government bonds also reflected growing unease among investors. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year note fell to 2.30 percent from 2.36 percent late Monday. As bond prices rise, yields drop.
And gold, often sought out by investors in times of global uncertainty, rose $20.30, or 1.6 percent, to $1,274.20 an ounce.
A dash of favorable economic news failed to lift the market. The Labor Department reported that job openings rose 2.1 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted 5.7 million. Job openings have increased 3.2 percent over the past 12 months.
Weak forecasts from some companies weighed on the market.
MTS Systems slumped 13.2 percent after the maker of mechanical testing systems issued disappointing earnings and sales forecasts for the year. The stock shed $7.10 to $46.70.
Rebounding from an early slide, benchmark crude oil rose 32 cents to close at $53.40 a barrel in New York, its sixth gain in a row. Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, added 25 cents to close at $56.23 a barrel.
In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline was little changed at $1.76 a gallon. Heating oil also held steady at $1.65 a gallon. Natural gas slid 9 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $3.15 per 1,000 cubic feet.