Tuesday's Stock Market Close: US Equities Finish Lower Despite Hopes For Reopening Economy

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday in volatile trading despite hopes that more states will begin to reopen some businesses after a long shutdown.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 32.23 points to 24,101.55, while the S&P 500 fell 15.09 points to 2,863.39 and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 122.43 points to 8,607.73.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled 4.96 billion shares with 2,141 issues advancing, 31 setting new highs, and 825 declining, with four setting new lows.

Active movers were led by General Electric (GE), American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) and Nordic American Tankers (NAT).

A number of states plan to, or already have, reopened parts of their economy, including Alaska, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled a 12-step plan to reopen parts of his state.

“It’s a very fact-based, data-driven reopening plan for regions that would keep them safe and allow the economy to reopen in phases,” Cuomo said.

Nasdaq suffered the largest losses on the day.

“I think people are selling into the tech earnings,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities. “If those results disappoint, then those stocks can lead the market lower. But in general, the market has been resilient lately.”

“The stock market is increasingly reflecting a restart in the economy as more and more states show a willingness to allow some economic activities to come back online,” said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at the Leuthold Group. “Not only did the S&P 500 index post a healthy gain [Monday] but it was led by those segments of the marketplace which are most dependent on an economic restart including small caps, high-beta stocks, and cyclical sectors like financials, materials, and industrials.”

More than 3 million virus cases have been confirmed globally, with 1 million cases in the U.S.

Traders will closely observe policy decisions and accompanying statements from the leaders of the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank this week.

DoubleLine CEO Jeffrey Gundlach is pessimistic about the market, citing it could retest its March low as investors do not fully comprehend the magnitude of the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I think a retest of the low is very plausible,” Gundlach said Monday. “People don’t understand the magnitude of ... the social unease at least that’s going to happen when ... 26 million-plus people have lost their job.”

The U.S. international advance trade in goods deficit increased to $64.2 billion in March from $59.9 billion in February.

The Conference Board said on Tuesday that its consumer confidence index plunged to a reading of 86.9 in April from 118.8 in March.

Home prices were 4.2% higher annually in February, up from a 3.9% gain in January, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. (However, these figures predate the initial impact of the coronavirus pandemic)

Overnight in Asia, markets finished mixed. China’s Shanghai Composite edged down 0.19%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.22% and Japan’s Nikkei-225 slipped 0.06%.

In Europe markets finished higher, as Britain’s FTSE-100 gained 1.91%, France’s CAC-40 climbed 1.43% and Germany’s DAX rose 1.27%.

Crude oil futures fell 0.94% at $12.66 per barrel, Brent crude rose 0.22% at $22.79. Gold futures slipped 0.28%.

The euro rose 0.06% at $1.0836 while the pound sterling edged up 0.08% at $1.2439.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury plunged 7.01% to 0.61% while yield on the 30-year Treasury fell 3.6% to 1.206%.