U.S. stocks on Tuesday were tipping lower in late-morning trade as investors returned from a three-day holiday weekend.
The S&P 500 index led early losses, was weighed by a slide in retailers Nordstrom Inc. JWN, -2.93% and Gap Inc. GPS, -1.73% After starting in positive territory, the Dow industrials and the Nasdaq Composite followed the large-cap benchmark’s lead, sinking into negative territory.
The S&P 500 SPX, -0.09% was off by 3 points, or 0.2%, at 2,176. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.09% gave up opening gains to trade off 0.1% at 18,466. McDonald’s Corporation, up 1.6%, led advancers, while shares of Nike Inc. NKE, -1.21% General Electric Co. GE, -1.17% and United Technologies Corp. UTX, -1.11% topping blue-chip decliners.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.06% was down 3 points, or less than 0.1%, at 5,246.
Analysts said Tuesday’s trading is likely to be muted as U.S. traders try to shake off the cobwebs after an extended weekend, with the market closed on Monday for Labor Day.
“After a number of important data last week, which were all soft, markets are in a slight consolidation mode,” said Karyn Cavanaugh, market strategist at Voya Investment Management.
“The fact that ‘soft news is good news’ mentality appears back, is not great in the long term. But the lack of alternative investment choices will continue to drive U.S. stocks higher in the short term because of relatively attractive valuations,” Cavanaugh said.
The main benchmarks S&P 500 and Dow industrials both gained modestly for the week after a weaker-than-expected monthly jobs report on Friday bolstered the view that the Federal Reserve won’t raise interest rates in September, fueling a rise in stocks and other assets perceived as relatively risky.
“Stocks are up about 7% since the start of the year, which is not euphoric and there has been a distinct rotation out of defensive stocks into riskier sectors—all because investors are relying on the Fed and other central banks to absorb any risk,” Cavanaugh said.
See: This could be a September to remember for investors
Individual movers: Shares in seeds and pesticides giant Monsanto Co. MON, +0.42% rose 0.5% after German chemicals titan Bayer AG BAYN, +1.26% raised its bid for the U.S. company to $127.50 a share, up from $125 a share.
General Electric Co. GE, -1.17% was little changed after the conglomerate said it would acquire two European 3-D printing companies for a combined $1.4 billion, gobbling up Sweden’s Arcam AB ARCM, +53.23% and Germany’s SLM Solutions Group AG AM3D, +39.17%
In the deal’s wake, shares of U.S. 3-D printing companies Stratasys Ltd. SSYS, +6.79% and 3-D Systems Corp. DDD, +8.08% were up 7% and 6%, respectively. The 3-D Printing ETF PRNT, +6.25% which launched in July and hasn't attracted much investor money, was also up more than 5%.
Enbridge Inc. ENB, +4.88% and Spectra Energy Corp. SE, +13.67% announced a stock-for-stock merger transaction, valuing Spectra’s common stock at $28 billion to create North America’s largest energy infrastructure company. Enbridge fell 0.2%, while Spectra jumped 13%.
Cepheid CPHD, +51.95% soared 52% to $52.36 following news that conglomerate Danaher Corp. DHR, -1.55% plans to buy the maker of clinical testing gear for $53 a share in cash, or about $4 billion. Danaher fell 0.2%.
Chip maker Marvell Technology Group Ltd. MRVL, -3.23% dropped 6.5% after reporting that quarterly revenue fell more than expected and issuing a mixed outlook.
Other markets: The U.S. oil benchmark CLV6, -0.59% reversed earlier gains and traded flat. European stocks SXXP, -0.41% were slightly higher, gold futures GCZ6, +1.24% gained, and a key dollar index DXY, -0.72% lost ground.
Asian stock markets were broadly higher Tuesday, though Australian equities XJO, -0.29% fell after the central bank there kept interest rates unchanged, and the Philippine benchmark PSEI, -0.58% fell after U.S. President Obama canceled a meeting with the country’s leader.
