Stocks were mixed on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 Index recovering some of its early session losses, as market participants remained cautious at the start of the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 150 points, while the S&P 500 closed 0.15% lower and Nasdaq Composite inched above a positive flatline.
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.15% or -7.04 points to 4,756.50
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.42% or -157.85 points to 37,525.16
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.09% or +13.94 points to 14,857.71
Making headlines on Tuesday, Boeing (NYSE: BA) will revise inspection instruction for its 737 Max 9 aircrafts, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Tuesday, responding to increased safety concerns following a mid-flight panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines (NYSE: ALK) flight last week and after United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) identifying loose hardware during pre-flight inspections.
"Every Boeing 737-9 Max with a plug door will remain grounded until the FAA finds each can safely return to operation," the agency said. "The safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 Max to service."
On the brighter-side for the Dow-member, Boeing reported Tuesday it met its delivery goals and record 70% growth in annual net orders in 2023. The company delivered 528 planes last year and booked 1,314 net new orders (allowing for cancellations), compared to 480 delivers and 774 net new orders in 2022.
In economic news, the National Federation of Independent Business' Small Business Optimism Index rose to 91.9 in December, according to a Tuesday report, rising 1.3 points from the previous month and coming in ahead of estimates. Beneath the headline, the share of small business owners expecting better business conditions over the next six months rose 6 points to a net negative 36% in December.
"Small business owners remain very pessimistic about economic prospects this year," said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg in a release. "Inflation and labor quality have consistently been a tough complication for small business owners, and they are not convinced that it will get better in 2024."
Shares of Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) rose on Tuesday after the Wall Street Journal reported late Monday that cloud-services company Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) is in talks to acquire the company for an estimated $13 billion. The potential acquisition could increase HPE's competition with Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO).
Unity Software (NYSE: U) shares rose Tuesday after the mobile video games software platform announced it is cutting 25% of its workforce, impacting about 1,800 employees, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company said this is part of a core business restructuring effort to position itself for long-term, profitable growth.
Match Group (NASDAQ: MTCH) shares soared higher after the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that activist investor Elliott Investment Management increased its stake in the Tinder-parent to about $1 billion.
Looking ahead, market participants are gearing up for two key inflation reports due out later this week, with the consumer price index reading for December slated for Thursday morning and the producer price index reading for last month scheduled for Friday morning.
The fourth-quarter earnings season also kicks off later this week, with highlights including big banks like JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), as well as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE: TSM), UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), and Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL).