During Tuesday's trading session, the majority of stocks experienced a decline. This resulted in all major averages experiencing some degree of downward shift, following a moderately improved performance at the end of the previous session.
In the course of recent trading, new session lows were observed in all major averages. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a decline of 303.53 points or 0.8%, resting at 38,082.56. The Nasdaq also fell by 131.42 points or 0.8% to 15,851.66, while the S&P 500 suffered a 36.35-point or 0.7% drop to 5,079.82.
One reason for seeming weaknesses in Wall Street is the prevailing uncertainty surrounding interest rate forecasts ahead of Wednesday's monetary policy announcement by the Federal Reserve. While the Federal Reserve is anticipated to maintain current interest rates, the post-meeting statement and press conference by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell could offer further insight into rate forecasts.
Recent economic indicators have lessened the expectation of near-term rate cuts, leading to beliefs that rates will likely remain unchanged until September. Negative market sentiment might have also been influenced by a report from the Conference Board indicating a sharper decline in U.S. consumer confidence for April than was initially predicted. The index fell to 97.0 in April, down from a revised 103.1 in March, which was noticeably lower than economist predictions.
Dana M. Peterson, Chief Economist at the Conference Board, noted that increasing prices for items such as food and gas are dominating consumer concerns, with political matters and international conflicts closely following.
Gold stocks were some of the worst-performing on Tuesday, contributing to a 3.5% plunge by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. This sell-off may be attributed to a significant fall in the price of gold. Energy stocks, along with networking, airline, and housing stocks, also experienced a notable downturn parallel to the drop in crude oil prices.
During Tuesday's overseas trading, the majority of stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region experienced growth with the exception of China's Shanghai Composite Index, which dipped by 0.3%. In contrast, European markets offered mixed performance results.
In the bond market, treasuries have experienced a downturn reflecting the prior two sessions' rebound. Consequently, the yield on the standard ten-year note has risen by 5.6 basis points to 4.670%.