U.S. stocks were little changed on Tuesday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday posted its best day since March.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 10 points. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were both trading near the flatline.
Bitcoin broke below $30,000 on Tuesday to trade at its lowest level in more than five months as losses accelerated with intensified crackdown efforts by China.
Alphabet shares traded slightly lower after the European Commission opened a probe into Google’s advertising unit.
On Monday, the blue-chip Dow gained 580 points for its best day since March 5 as shares tied to the economic recovery snapped back from last week’s sell-off induced by the Federal Reserve’s updated projections on inflation and interest rate hikes.
“Stocks staged a strong rebound on Monday, although all the S&P did was recoup its decline from Friday,” said Vital Knowledge’s Adam Crisafulli. “Cyclical stocks may have rebounded on Monday, but they are still in a downtrend and investors should use rallies to book profits.”
After Monday’s comeback, the S&P 500 is back within striking distance of a record, trading just 0.8% below its all-time high.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will testify before the House of Representatives Tuesday on the central bank’s response to the pandemic. His remarks, which were released ahead of the hearing Monday evening, are likely to support the notion that the Fed is ready to soon start discussing removing some of its unprecedented stimulus measures enacted during the pandemic.
“Since we last met, the economy has shown sustained improvement,” Powell will say Tuesday, according to the Fed release. “Widespread vaccinations have joined unprecedented monetary and fiscal policy actions in providing strong support to the recovery. Indicators of economic activity and employment have continued to strengthen, and real GDP this year appears to be on track to post its fastest rate of increase in decades.”
“Inflation has increased notably in recent months,” Powell will say. But the Fed chief will note that most of those are a temporary effect and that inflation should settle back to 2% over the long term.
Powell’s testimony begins at 2 p.m. ET.
