US markets end lower on Tuesday

18 Dec 2024 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday with the Dow closing lower for the ninth straight session for the first time since 1978. Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. While the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another quarter point, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement as well as officials’ latest economic projections, including their forecasts for rates. The weakness on markets partly reflected a pullback by technology stocks, which helped lead the way higher in the previous session. Networking stocks showed a significant pullback, with the NYSE Arca Networking Index tumbling by 2.2 percent after surging to a record closing high on Monday.

Considerable weakness was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent loss posted by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Shares of Broadcom (AVGO) gave back ground following a recent spike, while shares of Nvidia (NVDA) saw further downside after entering contraction territory on Monday. Outside the tech sector, financial stocks saw notable weakness, dragging both the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index and the KBW Bank Index down by 1.5 percent. Telecom, housing and steel stocks also moved to the downside, while pharmaceutical stocks bucked the downtrend amid a surge by shares of Pfizer (PFE). Pfizer shot up by 4.7 percent after forecasting 2025 revenues in line with estimates.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 267.58 points or 0.61 percent to 43,449.9, Nasdaq dropped 64.83 points or 0.32 percent to 20,109.06 and S&P 500 was down by 23.47 points or 0.39 percent to 6,050.61.