S&P 500 Slumps, Halting Six-Day Climb as Tech Leads Shares Lower

(Bloomberg) — US stocks fell on Tuesday after climbing for six consecutive trading sessions as investors parsed corporate earnings and assessed a bevy of Federal Reserve speeches for clues on the trajectory of interest rates.

The S&P 500 Index fell 0.4% in New York. Losses were most pronounced among Big Tech giants, sending the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index down 0.4%. Tesla Inc. was the only constituent among the so-called Magnificent Seven megaps that climbed Tuesday as Elon Musk reiterated his commitment to helming the electric-vehicle maker for years to come.  

“The rally is starting to get a little tired,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. “With Treasury yields still very near their recent highs, stock investors are becoming a bit less aggressive. This is a normal reaction after such a strong run.”

The S&P 500 had been on a historic winning streak, following its sharpest slide last month since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic as the White House embarked on its global trade war. The US equity benchmark gained on 18 of the last 22 trading days, only the 8th time since 1980, when it’s often been part of a bear-market recovery.

Also on Tuesday, Alphabet Inc. slumped as investors tuned into its Google I/O developer conference, with the keynote speech scheduled for 4:30 pm ET.

Across the Atlantic, some Wall Street strategists are betting European stocks will enjoy their best performance relative to the US in at least two decades, based on a Bloomberg poll of 20 forecasters from firms including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. 

On the US economic front, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President Alberto Musalem said tariffs will likely weigh on the US economy and weaken the labor market. Some officials have indicated that the Fed may not be ready to lower interest rates before September as they confront a murky economic outlook.

In geopolitics, stakeholders from the world’s largest economies are convening in Alberta this week to make their case against US trade policy while also alleviating tensions and finding common ground, especially on China, according to people familiar with the matter, asking not to be identified in order to discuss private deliberations.

In individual stock movers, Home Depot Inc. inched higher during the session before closing in the red, after maintaining its guidance for the fiscal year as US sales ticked up — a sign that consumer spending has held up despite economic turbulence.

Elsewhere, Trip.com’s US-listed shares fell after the online travel agency reported its first-quarter results. ImmunityBio Inc. advanced after Piper Sandler upgraded the drug developer, saying the launch of the firm’s newly approved bladder cancer drug Anktiva is off to a strong start.

–With assistance from Jan-Patrick Barnert.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.