Wall Street ends holiday-shortened session lower

Tech sell-off weighs on the Nasdaq Composite index.
Crude oil's upsurge helps the energy outperform other major sectors.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Major equity indexes in the United States started the day higher but failed to stay in the positive territory weighed by a heavy sell-off witnessed in tech giants' shares.

Earlier today, a report published in the Washington Post revealed that the federal probe on the privacy and data breach linked to Facebook and Cambridge Analytica was expanded to include more government agencies. Facebook's shares lost more than 2% on the day and dragged the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector (SPLRCT) by 1.35%.

On the other hand, earlier in the session, crude oil prices continued their rally with the barrel of West Texas Intermediate touching its highest level in more than three years above $75. Although the barrel of WTI erased its daily gains and turned flat near $74, the S&P 500 Energy Sector (SPNY) ended up closing the day 0.72% higher.

Nonetheless, the trading action in the holiday-shortened-session did little to provide a clear picture regarding the market mood on Tuesday. "There's not going to be a lot ultimately taken away from today's trading regardless of what direction the market goes in," Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia, told Reuters.

At the end of the session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 132.36 points, or 0.54%, to 24,174.82, the S&P 500 fell 13.49 points, or 0.49%, to 2,713.22 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 65.01 points, or 0.86%, at 7,502.67.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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