Investing.com – With the exception of minimal gains in the technological index, Wall Street traded lower on Tuesday as economic reports showed conflicting data on the U.S. consumer, markets ratcheted down expectations for a Federal Reserve (Fed) hike at the next meeting in June and West Texas continued to struggle with the $50 psychological level.
At 16:30GMT or 12:30ET, the Dow 30 lost 90 points, or 0.50%, the S&P 500 fell 5 points, or 0.23%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite inched up 3 points, or 0.07%.
Investors returned from the Memorial Day holiday with caution on Tuesday, perhaps reticent to push stocks higher as they awaited the publication of the employment report due on Friday.
Economic reports released on Tuesday showed a mix picture with both April’s personal spending and real personal consumption rising more than expected.
However, according to The Conference Board, consumer confidence fell for a second straight month in May, calling in to question that the positive start to the second quarter shown in the biggest gain in consumer spending in the last seven years may have already begun to falter.
Increases in housing prices for March managed to beat expectations as the firming labor market and low mortgage rates spurred new buyers.
Further, the core PCE index, a favorite gauge of the Fed to monitor inflation, edged up 0.2% from the previous month at an annualized rate of 1.6%, settling in line with consensus forecasts.
After the string of data, Fed fund futures were pricing the odds of a June hike at 21%, compared to the 28% registered at the prior close. The probability for July increase also inched down, but remained above the 50% threshold at 58%.
In oil markets, crude got a boost from a report from industry research group Genscape showed that supplies at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for U.S. crude fell last week, but West Texas, hitting an intraday high of $50.09, seemed unable to hold above the $50 psychological level.
Gains were limited by low expectations for any meaningful agreement being made by the meeting of major oil producers later this week. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet on Thursday in Vienna although no dramatic announcement on a production cut is expected.
In other bearish news for black gold, Iraq plans to ship 5 million extra barrels of crude in June. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and the United Arab Emirates are also planning to increase supplies later this year.
U.S. crude futures gained 1.16% to $49.90 by 16:32GMT, or 12:32ET, while Brent oil traded up 0.73% to $50.73.
In company news, Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) was up 0.7% after the blue-chip reached an agreement with unions to include 1,400 new jobs along with salary increases in order to end a nearly seven-week strike.
Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) gained more than 4% after announcing its new Beer Bar which allows consumers to make home-crafted beer using sparkling water and a beer concentrate.
Allergan Plc (NYSE:AGN) gained almost 1% as multimillionaire activist Carl Ichan admitted to having taken a “large position” in the maker of Botox.
In light earnings news, Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) fell more than 1% after the medical products makers gave a weak forward guidance, while in Europe, Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) lost 2.6% as the German car maker reported a 19.3% decline in profit for the first quarter, missing analyst forecasts for a 17% drop.