Tech stocks gain amid mixed results

The global rally in risk assets that sent U.S. stocks to a 12-week high sputtered on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 swinging between gains and losses before closing higher for a third consecutive day.

Advances in megacap tech shares helped support the Nasdaq indexes, pushing them to fresh records for a second straight day. Italian bonds tumbled after the nation’s premier pledged a raft of populist measures. Crude oil reversed early losses to close higher for the first time in four days, while the dollar also gained.

“People are somewhat cautious,” Nick Kalivas, senior equity product strategist at Invesco ETFs, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters. “Not only are they worried about rising rates, but then they’re worried about what’s going on with the economy. That’s going to cause the market to kind of have this choppy, slow grind higher.”

The outlook for global equities had taken an upward turn in recent sessions, not least because stronger-than-expected data from the U.S. showed the world’s largest economy is in rude health. It’s a relief to investors after weeks of turmoil, though with President Donald Trump stepping up his aggressive trade policies and populists poised to start governing in Italy, there remain plenty of reasons for caution.

“You have good fundamental data, whether it be on the macro side or the micro side, in terms of earnings, you have different issues buffeting from a headline perspective, and then you have underlying fiscal policy as stimulative and monetary policy is more restrictive than it has been,” Ernie Cecilia, chief investment officer at Bryn Mawr Trust Co, said by phone.

Italian bonds declined for the first time since they blew up a week ago as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte pledged in his maiden speech to pursue a program of fiscal expansion. The euro recovered after he later said that an exit from the shared currency is not under discussion and has never been a target for this government.