U.S. stocks give up an early rally, ending winning streak

U.S. stock indexes closed mostly lower Tuesday after a late-afternoon splash of selling erased early gains, ending a weeklong rally.

Banks accounted for much of the decline, along with utilities and industrial companies. Those losses offset gains in health care, technology and consumer products stocks.

The benchmark S&P 500 ended barely lower, its second loss over the past seven trading days. It’s still up 13 percent so far in 2019.

Investors were looking ahead to what the Federal Reserve will say Wednesday following a twoday meeting of policymakers. The central bank has signaled that it will be “patient” in raising interest rates.

Investors seem reassured that the Fed will continue to hold off on raising rates, and that’s given them more confidence to push the market higher this year.

The S&P 500 index slipped 0.37 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,832.57. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 26.72 points, or 0.1 percent, to 25,887.38.

The Nasdaq composite gained 9.47 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,723.95. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gave up 8.95 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,554.99.

More stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Major indexes in Europe finished higher.

The broader market broke out of a short slump last week and has been gaining since then. It marks a turnaround from a terrifying drop in December, and now every major U.S. index is up more than 10 percent for the year.

What the Fed does next will surely have an impact on the market’s trajectory.

The central bank is expected to leave its key short-term interest rate unchanged Wednesday and to stress its new watchword—“patient”—in conveying its intention to leave rates alone for the foreseeable future.

The Fed has made clear that with a dimmer economic picture in both the United States and globally, it no longer sees the need to keep raising rates as it did four times in 2018. Among the key factors, besides slower growth, are President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, continually low inflation levels and Prime Minister Theresa May’s struggle to execute Britain’s exit from the European Union.

There has also been an absence of sharp bad news surprises, she said, which has given investors confidence that there is less volatility than previously feared.

Financial, utilities and industrial stocks weighed the most on the market Tuesday. Fifth Third Bancorp dropped 3.3 percent, FirstEnergy slid 2 percent and railroad operator Union Pacific lost 3.3 percent.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.62 percent from 2.60 late Monday.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil slipped 0.1 percent to settle at $59.03 a barrel, while Brent crude gained 0.1 percent to close at $67.61 a barrel.

Wholesale gasoline climbed 0.5 percent to $1.89 a gallon, heating oil added 1.1 percent to $1.99 a gallon and natural gas picked up 0.8 percent to $2.87 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold rose 0.4 percent to $1,306.50 an ounce, silver added 0.3 percent to $15.37 an ounce and copper picked up 0.5 percent to $2.92 a pound.