U.S. stock indexes edge higher a day after a big gain

Tech companies go up despite latest Trump tariff threat.

NEW YORK — Stocks wobbled Tuesday as large high-dividend stocks rose and smaller com- panies sank. Major indexes were coming off big gains the day before.

Big health care companies including Johnson & Johnson rallied, as did telecommuni- cations and household goods makers. Steel and other mate- rials makers skidded.

Technology companies rose even though President Donald Trump said he expects more tariffs on goods imported from China, some of which would hit products like computers and smartphones. Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Group of 20 summit in Argentina this week.

“It is not unexpected that the administration would ramp up their threats moving into that meeting,” said Tracie McMillion, head of global asset allocation for the Wells Fargo Investment Institute. She said trading will probably be volatile for the rest of the week, but stocks are likely to rise if the two sides are able to strike even a very general agreement.

With two months of volatility on investors’ minds and more likely to come, Wall Street gravitated toward safer, high-dividend communications, utility and consumer goods companies. Verizon gained 2.5 percent to $60.65, Public Service Enterprise Group climbed 1.5 percent to $54.29 and cigarette maker Altria Group rose 1.1 percent to $53.79 as tobacco companies recovered some of their recent losses.

Smaller companies, espe- cially in heavy industry and retail, took steeper losses.

“Later in the (economic) cycle, the cost of borrowing impacts small businesses,” said McMillion. “Not being able to hire the labor that they need to continue to grow could be a factor in that as well.”

Defense companies also dipped. Northrop Grumman fell 2.1 percent to $260.34, and Raytheon gave up 1.7 percent to $171.67.

Spirit Airlines surged 15.3 percent to $58.76 after it fore- cast a big jump in revenue in the fourth quarter. Investors were hopeful that other air- lines might see similar gains. Delta climbed 2.8 percent to $58.31 and United Continental picked up 1.8 percent to $93.38.

Trump told the Wall Street Journal late Monday that he expects to raise tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports on Jan. 1. His administration recently imposed a 10 percent tax on those imports, and at the start of the year that’s scheduled to rise to 25 percent. Trump also threatened again to place tariffs on all remaining U.S. imports from China.

The administration’s tariffs have driven up costs for many businesses, but consumers haven’t felt as much of a sting. Another round of tariffs on products like laptops and computers would change that.

Apple slipped 0.2 percent to $174.24. Its stock has fallen 25 percent since early October, wiping out about $270 billion in value and leaving Apple and Microsoft essentially tied as the most valuable publicly traded companies in the world. Microsoft edged ahead a few times during the day, but at the close of trading investors valued Apple at about $827 billion and Microsoft at $822 billion.