By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The S&P 500 closed at a record high for a second straight day Tuesday, as tech continued to flex its muscles, shrugging off weakness in Apple and data showing an unexpected decline in consumer confidence.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.21% or 59 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.36% and 0.76% respectively to close at all-time highs.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence gauge unexpectedly fell to 84.8 this month from 91.7 in July, missing economists’ forecast for a reading of 93.
"The drop in confidence this month is disappointing. We had expected to see a better reading based on the fact that the second surge of COVID in the Sun Belt is abating and the worst outcomes seem to be avoided," Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) said.
But the drop "suggests that the expiration of the $600 enhanced unemployment insurance benefits really took a bite out of confidence," it added.
The move lower in the broader market was exacerbated by a fall in energy stocks, paced by a 3% decline in Exxon (NYSE:XOM) Mobile after the oil major was booted out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average following a re-weighting of the index.
The fall in energy was kept in check somewhat by a rise in oil prices as oversupply worries eased because energy companies cut production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico to limit damage from Hurricane Laura, which is expected to make landfall over the next few days.
Tech advance as gains in Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) offset a fall in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).
In other news, Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) jumped 10% following after Citigroup (NYSE:C) upgraded the stock to buy from neutral, and lifted its price target to $24 from $12 ahead of quarterly results due Thursday.
Airlines, meanwhile, were mostly lower on signs that air travel demand remains lackluster, and tens of thousands of job cuts are imminent.
American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL), down 2%, said it would layoff 19,000 employees in October unless the government extends airline payroll aid, while Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), up 1%, said it would furlough nearly 2,000 pilots in October. United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) closed 3% lower.