Stocks close mostly lower

Stocks indexes on Wall Street closed mostly lower Tuesday, though solid gains by Apple, Facebook and other tech heavyweights helped nudged the Nasdaq to another all-time high.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3 percent, losing some ground after two straight weekly gains. Roughly 80 percent of companies in the benchmark index fell. Industrial and health care stocks were among the S&P 500’s biggest decliners. Household goods makers also weighed on the index, offsetting gains in communication services firms, technology stocks and a mix of companies that rely on consumer spending.

The pullback in stocks came as traders returned from the Labor Day holiday weekend to a relatively light week of economic data. The last big economic snapshot, the August jobs report, came in weaker than expected last Friday, but stocks only slipped modestly on the news.

“We’re still kind of digesting Friday’s weak job number and the potential impact that might have with the economy,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for LPL Financial.

The S&P 500 fell 15.40 points to 4,520.03. The index remains within 0.4 percent of the all-time high it set last Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 269.09 points, or 0.8 percent, to 35,100, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 10.81 points, or 0.1 percent, to 15,374.33 it’s fourth consecutive record high.

Traders are back from their summer holidays, and volatility is expected to pick up. Stocks churned higher throughout the summer, helped by stronger-thanexpected earnings from big companies as well as guidance from the Federal Reserve that the central bank plans to keep interest rates low.