Stocks ticked higher Tuesday as market participants digested Monday's strong rally in response to softening tariff language from the Trump administration. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed just above the flatline, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite advanced about 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
Consumer Confidence dipped further in March as outlooks for future conditions sank to the lowest level in more than a decade, The Conference Board reported Tuesday. However, the report does not seem to have shaken investors in morning trading.
The headline confidence index of current conditions declined by a more-than-expected 7.2 points to 92.9, marking its fourth straight monthly contraction. Looking ahead, the confidence index for future expectations sank by 9.6 points to 65.2, its lowest reading in 12 years and below the key 80 threshold that signals a potential recession.
"Consumers' optimism about future income -- which had held up quite strongly in the past few months -- largely vanished, suggesting worries about the economy and labor market have started to spread into consumers' assessments of their personal situations," said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist of global indicators at The Conference Board, in a statement.
New U.S. Home Sales rose 1.8% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 676,000, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported Tuesday, coming in ahead of January's revised print of 664,000. Sales also rose 5.1% annually last month as the median new house price fell 1.5% to $414,500 in February.
"Lower mortgage rates helped to lift demand in February, despite other near-term risks such as tariff issues and affordability concerns," said Robert Dietz, chief economist at NAHB, in a statement. "While new home inventory is at an otherwise elevated 8.9 months' supply, total home supply -- new and existing -- is a relatively lean 4.2 months' supply for February."
The Dow surged more than 600 points on Monday after President Donald Trump signaled that he "may give a lot of countries breaks," on the reciprocal tariffs set to roll out on April 2. The White House also plans to outline levies for key industries like automobiles and pharmaceuticals soon, which helped ease lingering tension from Trump's earlier tariff roll out that shook up Wall Street.
Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic told Bloomberg News on Tuesday that he expects lingering inflationary pressures to keep the central bank from lowering interest rates more than once this year, updating his outlook to one lone quarter cut this year.
"I moved to one mainly because I think we're going to see inflation be very bumpy and not move dramatically and in a clear way to the 2% target," Bostic said; the central banker does not vote in the Federal Open Market Committee this year and will next vote in 2027. "Because that's being pushed back, I think the appropriate path of policy is going to have to be pushed back in getting us to that neutral level."
