US stocks largely held in place Tuesday, with Wall Street waiting to hear what the Federal Reserve will say Wednesday about where interest rates are heading.
- The S&P 500 fell 6 points, or 0.1%, to 6,840.51, though it remains near its all-time high.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 179.03 points, or 0.4%, to 47,560.29.
- The Nasdaq composite rose 30.58 points, or 0.1%, to 23,576.49.
Treasury yields climbed following an update on US job openings, the
AP reports. The report could persuade the Fed that the economy doesn't need much more help from lower interest rates. The report showed that US employers were advertising 7.7 million job openings at the end of October. That's up a smidgen from the month before and the highest since May.
Exxon Mobil was one of the strongest forces pushing upward on the market. It climbed 2% after increasing its forecast for profit over the next five years, thanks in part to strength for its fields in the Permian basin in the United States and off Guyana's shore. But JPMorgan Chase dragged on the market after a top executive, Marianne Lake, said expenses for the bank could hit $105 billion next year. That would be up 9% from an estimated $95.9 billion this year, though Lake also said JPMorgan Chase is "feeling pretty good about the underlying financial health of the borrowers in our portfolio." Its stock fell 4.7%.
Another drop came from Toll Brothers, which fell 2.4% after the homebuilder reported weaker results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Douglas Yearley Jr. said demand for new homes remains soft across many markets. But he pointed to how his company's luxury homes aim more at affluent customers, who may be less hurt by "affordability pressures" than other potential homebuyers. One big factor in that affordability question is mortgage rates. They're cheaper than they were at the start of the year, though they perked up a bit after October. That's largely because of questions in the bond market about how much more the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, Ares Management climbed 7.4% after S&P Dow Jones Indices said the investment company will join its widely followed S&P 500 index. It will replace Kellanova, the maker of Pringles and Pop-Tarts, which is being bought by Mars, the company behind Snickers and M&Ms. CVS Health rose 2.2% after unveiling new financial forecasts, including expectations for annual compounded growth in earnings per share at a "mid-teens" percentage over the next three years.
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