The Palm Beach Post

Indexes struggle higher, led by technology companies

- By Marley Jay

NEW YORK — Major U.S. stock indexes wobbled and finished mostly higher Tuesday, led by technology companies and a handful of retailers.

The gains were enough to mark more record highs for several of the indexes, though not the Dow Jones industrial average.

Trading was lighter than usual, and stocks flipped between small gains and small losses for most of the day.

Outside of tech and retail, most others finished lower. Energy companies dipped along with oil prices, and an increase in bond yields dented high-dividend stocks like utilities and phone companies, which investors tend to buy when they are seeking income.

Canada’s foreign minister arrived in Washington to resume trade talks Tuesday, a day after stocks rose on news that the Trump administra­tion had reached a preliminar­y deal with Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement.

“If we do get a new agreement in North America with lower overall tariffs or trade restrictio­ns, long-term that’s a pretty positive result,” said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist for the Leuthold Group.

The S&P 500, Nasdaq and Russell all closed at record highs. More stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

Shoe retailer DSW surged 20.2 percent to $32.70 after reporting second-quarter results that were far stronger than analysts expected. Sales surpassed Wall Street forecasts, and the company raised its estimates for the rest of the year.

Tiffany did the same, and its stock added 1 percent to $131.07. Like many other retailers, their stocks had slumped in recent years due to growing competitio­n from online retailers and sinking sales in stores.

Retail stocks have climbed recently as they improved their online businesses. DSW has risen 53 percent in 2018 and Tiffany has rallied 26 percent.

Apple added 0.8 percent to $219.70 as technology companies, the most valuable part of the S&P 500, did better than the rest of the market. Chipmaker Xilinx rose 2.3 percent to $76.99 and Qualcomm gained 3.6 percent to $69.78.

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