Investing.com – Wall Street was mixed on Tuesday as markets struggled to recover from two days of losses.
The S&P 500 was down four points or 0.17% to 2,644.52 as of 10:20 AM ET (15:20 GMT) while the Dow composite decreased 51 points or 0.21% to 24,294.28, after falling nearly 2.00% when markets opened and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite was up 41 points or 0.60% to 7,009.06.
The Dow lost over a 1,000 points at the close on Monday, as inflation concerns pushed stocks down. The negative movements started on Friday after a report showed that U.S. wages increased at its fastest pace in eight and a half year.
Bond yields rose after the report, as investors grow concerned that inflation will rise and the Federal Reserve will interest rates more than expected next year. The 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.758% while the 30-year Treasury note decreased to 3.047%. The movement in bond prices has contributed to market volatility. As bond yields rise, prices fall.
Technology and healthcare stocks were among the biggest gainers. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) surged 2.00% while Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) increased 2.23% and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) inched up 1.51%.
Meanwhile General Motors (NYSE:GM) rose 5.34% after its fourth quarter results were better than expected. Bank stocks also rallied, with JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) up 1.74% and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) increasing 2.25%.
Elsewhere, Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) inched down 0.10% amid lingering concern that the Fed had put a growth cap on the firm until it addresses its governance plans. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) was down 0.98% ahead of reporting its fourth quarter earnings results later in the day.
In Europe stocks were down. In Germany the DAX fell 221 points or 1.75% while France’s CAC 40 decreased 102 points or 1.93% and in London the FTSE 100 lost 121 points or 1.66%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 fell 209 point or 2.08% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 inched down 67 points or 1.95%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.27% to $1,332.90 a troy ounce while crude oil futures fell 0.48% to $63.84 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, gained 0.28% to 89.82.