Wall Street showed a timid performance in Tuesday’s session, with investors remaining on the sidelines awaiting further indications on the future of interest rates ahead of Wednesday’s Fed meeting.

At midday trading in New York, the S&P 500 recorded gains of 0.4%, while tech stocks saw a slight decline of 0.1%. In contrast, blue-chip stocks and small caps demonstrated resilience, with gains of 0.8% and 0.4%, respectively.

Treasury yields remained largely unchanged, while the U.S. dollar index (DXY) surged 0.3%, driven by the dollar’s strength against the Japanese yen, despite the Bank of Japan’s decision to raise interest rates for the first time in 17 years.

The Bank of Japan’s move, which involved a 10-basis-point increase, was perceived as less hawkish than anticipated by market participants, as the central bank failed to signal any additional hints of rate hikes.

Oil prices climbed 0.5% to $82.5 a barrel for West Texas Intermediate light crude, with strong momentum driving energy stocks higher, poised to reach their highest levels since late September 2023.

Bitcoin BTC/USD grabbed headlines as it experienced a significant drop of over 5%, equivalent to a $10,000 daily drawdown, amidst escalating selling pressures across crypto platforms.

Tuesday’s Performance In Major U.S. Indices, ETFs

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 0.3% higher to $514.23, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.7% to $390.33, while the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ eased 0.1% to $438.11, according to Benzinga Pro data. 

Sector-wise, the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE was the top performer for the day, up 1%, while the Communication Services Sector SPDR Fund XLC was the laggard, down 0.4%.

Tuesday’s Stock Movers

• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD fell over 5% after Goldman Sachs analysts revealed the latest Nvidia chip could generate headwinds to competitors like AMD.
• Tencent Music Entertainment Group TME rallied over 6% despite reporting weaker-than-expected earnings last quarter. Still, the company reported a 20% annual increase in paid users in China and a 41% revenue increase on its online music service.
• Nordstrom Inc. JWN rose over 10% Tuesday, following a report suggesting the company was looking to go private.
• International Paper Co IP rose 10% after it named Andrew Silvernail as its new CEO.
• Avis Budget Group Inc. CAR rose 5% after BofA Securities initiated coverage with Buy rating, setting a price target of $170.

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