U.S. stocks are mostly trading higher Tuesday, a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq suffered triple-digit losses amid gyrations in the oil market, a stronger dollar, concerns about trade negotiations and sluggish international growth.
How did the benchmarks fare?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.01%[1] was down 133 points or roughly 0.5%, at 25,253, the S&P 500 SPX, +0.37%[2] was virtually unchanged, at 2,727, while The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.69%[3] have advanced 46 points, or 0.6%, at 7,247.
On Monday, the Dow tumbled 602.12 points, or 2.3%, to 25,387.18, the S&P 500 fell 54.79 points, or 2%, to 2,726.22, while the Nasdaq Composite Index got hammered, shedding 206.03 points, or 2.8%, to 7,200.87.
What is driving the market?
Some apparent moderation in trade tensions between the U.S. and China may be behind Tuesday’s early optimism. According to The Wall Street Journal, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Friday about a possible resolution of a the protracted trade spat between Beijing and Washington. The talk between the officials comes ahead of a scheduled meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping, set for the end of the month at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires.
On Monday, reports indicated that Trump was focusing on imposing tariffs on automobile imports and internally circulating a draft report from the Commerce Department on auto tariffs, according to a Bloomberg report[4]. That is a move that could further escalate the animus between the U.S. and the rest of the world on trade.
Trump may have also helped to exacerbate a selloff in crude-oil prices[5], which suffered an 11 straight decline[6], marking its longest skid on record. Trump voiced disapproval over a potential production cut by Saudi Arabia and OPEC, and tweeted that prices “should be much lower based on supply[7]!”
Oil has become a focal point for investors, with some bears suggesting that stumbles in crude-oil prices CLZ8, -6.22%[8] into bear-market territory—a decline of at least 20% from a recent peak—are a telltale sign of sluggish global economic expansion.
What are strategists saying?
“Tailwinds that...