Slumping tech favorites pull major U.S. stock indexes lower

Wall Street jostled to a mixed finish Tuesday, as former stalwarts ran out of momentum and some of the market’s most beaten-down stocks turned into winners.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.5% after stocks that have held up the best through this year’s sell-off fell to some of the market’s sharpest drops. They included health care companies, big tech titans and winners of the stay-at-home economy, such as Netflix and Amazon.

Those are big companies, which give their movements outsized effect on the S&P 500. Among the winners were travel companies and  shopping-mall owners as some U.S. states and nations around the world are gradually lifting restrictions implemented to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

That left the S&P 500 with a loss of 15.09 points to 2,863.39, its first in three days. 

It coincided with another wild day for oil prices, where a barrel of U.S. oil for delivery in June fell close to $10 before paring its losses, as swelling supplies continue to far exceed demand.

"The thing that matters the most to stocks is how much longer is this going to last," said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments. "And sure, we can reopen, but how slow is that going to be?" 

The Nasdaq fell 1.4%, to 8,607.73. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 32.23 points, or 0.1%, to 24,101.55. -- AP