A busy day of headlines Tuesday resulted in a nice day of outperformance for the Dow Jones industrial average and a new high for the S&P 500 but a sluggish day overall for tech stocks.
Alphabet (GOOGL) cast a pall on the tech sector after the company reported earnings late Monday. Shares fell 3%.
At the close, the Dow rose almost 0.5%; the S&P 500 added 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite rose less than 0.1%. Small caps fared the best with the Russell 2000 up 0.8%. Preliminary data showed volume on the NYSE and Nasdaq both coming in higher than Monday's levels.
X Inside the Dow, Caterpillar (CAT) soared 6% on a nice earnings beat and second straight quarter of accelerating sales growth. McDonald's (MCD), meanwhile, jumped 5% as Wall Street cheered solid earnings as well as a 3.9% increase in U.S. same-store sales, nicely above expectations.
Financials also outperformed as bond yields rose. Dow components JPMorgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS) ended with gains of nearly 2%. JPMorgan is back near highs but just below a 94.08 buy point. Goldman has been a laggard in the financial sector for a while now as it trades near its recently converged 50- and 200-day moving averages.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was up 7 basis points to 2.32% as the two-day Fed meeting got underway. A decision on interest rates is due Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET.
The market is not expecting a rate hike tomorrow, and one more before the end of the year is still in question, according to the CME Group FedWatch tool. Futures traders think there's a 47% chance the Fed will hike rates one more time before the end of the year.
Some oil and gas-related groups outperformed as oil prices jumped. September WTI crude oil jumped $1.55, or 3.3%, to settle at $47.89 a barrel.
Heavy-volume gainers included Rio Tinto (RIO). Shares jumped 5% to 45.93. It's still in buy range after gapping up over a 45.81 cup-with-handle buy point. Mining firms outperformed on the heels of strong results from Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), which soared nearly 15%.
On the downside, shares of Seagate (STX) crashed more than 16% on a big earnings miss. It's been a laggard since gapping below the 50-day moving in late April. Domino's Pizza (DPZ) was another big loser, down 10%, despite another quarter of strong bottom-line and top-line growth. U.S. same-store sales in the quarter rose 9.5%.
RELATED:
McDonald's Touts Digital Progress; Domino's Falls Hard
Why The Federal Reserve Might Spring A Surprise Wednesday; Bank Stocks Rally
Apple Analysts Brace For 'Big Guide Down' Amid iPhone 8 Delay Reports
