While the Dow and the S&P 500 have moved moderately lower in morning trading on Tuesday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq has been bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line. The lackluster performance comes following the strong upward move seen over the past few sessions.
Currently, the major averages are all in negative territory. The Dow is down 99.12 points or 0.3 percent at 28,738.40, the Nasdaq is down 14.46 points or 0.1 percent 11,861.80 and the S&P 500 is down 15.06 points or 0.4 percent at 3,519.16.
The modest weakness on Wall Street may be partly due to profit taking after the major averages climbed to their best intraday levels in over a month on Monday.
Negative sentiment may also have been generated in reaction to news that Johnson & Johnson has paused a late-stage trial of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate due to an unexplained illness in a study participant.
Shares of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) have moved to the downside on the news even though the healthcare giant reported better than expected third quarter results.
Financial giants JPMorgan (JPM) and Citigroup (C) have also moved lower despite reporting third quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates.
On the other hand, shares of Disney (DIS) have moved sharply higher after the entertainment giant announced a strategic reorganization of its media and entertainment businesses to focus on developing and producing original content for its streaming services.
In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest increase in consumer prices in the month of September, with the uptick in prices matching economist estimates.
The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.2 percent in September after climbing by 0.4 percent in August.
Prices for used cars and trucks spiked by 6.7 percent, accounting for most of the monthly increase by the headline index.
Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices still edged up by 0.2 percent in September following the 0.4 percent growth seen in August. The uptick in core prices also matched estimates.
Gold stocks are seeing substantial weakness in morning trading, resulting in a 2.2 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.
The sell-off by gold stocks comes amid a steep drop by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery plunging $33 to $1,895.90 an ounce.
Significant weakness has also emerged among airline stocks, as reflected by the 2 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.
Delta Air Lines (DAL) has moved to the downside after reporting a wider than expected third quarter loss on revenues that missed analyst estimates.
Steel, housing and networking stocks are also seeing notable weakness in morning trading, while retail stocks are extending the rally seen in the previous session.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged up by 0.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index closed just above the unchanged line.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index has tumbled by 1.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.6 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved notably higher as trading resumes following the holiday on Monday. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4.4 basis points at 0.731 percent.
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