NEW YORK—Stocks shed early gains and fell in afternoon trading on Wall Street Tuesday as the market remains shaky a day after a broad sell-off.
The S&P 500 fell 0.8 percent as of 12:31 p.m. Eastern. The benchmark index was up as much as 1.9 percent in early trading. It slumped 3.2 percent a day earlier, hitting its lowest level in more than a year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 328 points, or 1 percent, to 31,913 and the Nasdaq fell 0.3 percent.
Big technology stocks, which have been swinging sharply both up and down recently, made slight gains and helped counter losses elsewhere in the market. Apple rose 0.7 percent and Microsoft rose 0.9 percent.
Bond yields eased. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.95 percent from 3.08 percent late Monday.
Treasury yields have been rising and stocks have been extremely volatile recently as Wall Street adjusts to an aggressive turnaround in the Federal Reserve’s policies away from supporting the economy and towards fighting inflation. The central bank is raising interest rates from historic lows to fight persistently rising inflation, which is at its highest levels in four decades.
The central bank has raised its benchmark rate from close to zero, where it sat for much of the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, it indicated it will double the size of future increases.
Higher prices on raw materials, shipping, and labor have been cutting into corporate financial results and forecasts. Many companies have been raising prices on everything from clothing to food, raising concerns that consumers will eventually cut spending, which would hurt economic growth.
Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has only increased worries about rising inflation. The conflict pushed already high oil and natural gas prices even higher, while putting more pressure on costs for key food commodities like wheat and corn. U.S. crude oil prices fell 3 percent on Tuesday, but are up more than 30 percent in 2022. Wheat prices are up more than 40 percent for the year.
Investors are also still reviewing the latest round of corporate earnings with mixed results. Peloton tumbled 15 percent as the former pandemic darling of investors reported results that were much weaker than Wall Street was expecting. Food distributor Sysco rose 6.2 percent after beating analysts’ forecasts.
Migraine treatment developer Biohaven Pharmaceutical surged 70.5 percent after Pfizer said it will buy the company for $11.6 billion. Pfizer already owns a portion of the company.
Wall Street will get some more details on inflation later this week. The Labor Department on Wednesday will release its report on consumer prices for April. On Thursday, it will release its report on producer prices, or wholesale prices that impact businesses, for April.
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