Investing.com – Volatile trading returned to Wall Street on Tuesday as investors wait for Wednesday’s inflation report.
The S&P 500 was down 12 points or 0.46% to 2,643.89 as of 9:45 AM ET (14:45 GMT) while the Dow composite decreased 109 points or 0.44% to 24,492.12, and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite was down 26 points or 0.39% to 6,955.05.
Investors are looking ahead to Wednesday, when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statics releases its inflation index.
Markets have been on edge over a week amid worry that the Federal Reserve could increase interest rates more than expected due to rising inflation. Markets closed in the positive on Friday and Monday but were still down more than 5% from the week.
Traders will be looking closely to the bond market during the trading session. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was at 2.842%, not far from yesterday’s four year high of 2.891%. As bond yields rise, prices fall.
On the earnings front, Blue Apron Holdings Inc (NYSE:APRN) surged 19.98% after it posted narrower losses than expected, while PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) inched up 0.46% after it beat its fourth quarter earnings estimates and clothing company Under Armour Inc C (NYSE:UA) rose 15.10% after it reported higher than expected results.
Meanwhile health and nutrient firm GNC Holdings Inc (NYSE:GNC) jumped 28.40% after Chinese pharmaceutical company Hayao agreed to invest $300 million in GNC.
Elsewhere Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) fell 1.09% while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) inched down 0.18% and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) decreased 1.04%. Snap slumped 0.97% and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) was down 0.85%.
In political news, U.S. President Donald Trump proposed his 2019 budget to Congress on Monday, including cutting $3 trillion of the deficit, funding for a wall along the Mexican-American border, and an increase in military spending. He also released a $200 billion infrastructure plan. The proposals are merely suggestions and it is up to Congress to set the budget each year.
In Europe stocks were down. In Germany the DAX fell 44 points or 0.36% while France’s CAC 40 decreased 17 points or 0.34% and in London the FTSE 100 lost half a point or 0.01%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 was down 103 points or 1.06% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 slumped 24 points or 0.73%.
In commodities, gold futures were down 0.05% to $1,325.80 a troy ounce while crude oil futures eased 1.32% to $58.51 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.41% to 89.64.