Market report

Sluggish markets barely twitch

David Neeleman, founder and chief executive officer of Brazilian airline Azul SA, holds up a gavel Tuesday as he’s joined on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange by Ali Neeleman (left) and NYSE Group Inc. President Thomas Farley after ringing a ceremonial bell during Azul’s initial public offering. U.S. stock indexes barely moved Tuesday in another day of light trading.
David Neeleman, founder and chief executive officer of Brazilian airline Azul SA, holds up a gavel Tuesday as he’s joined on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange by Ali Neeleman (left) and NYSE Group Inc. President Thomas Farley after ringing a ceremonial bell during Azul’s initial public offering. U.S. stock indexes barely moved Tuesday in another day of light trading.

The major U.S. stock indexes barely budged Tuesday on another day of mostly light trading ahead of the Easter holiday weekend.

Technology stocks declined the most, while real estate companies notched the biggest gains. Oil prices recovered after an early slide. Bond yields fell and the price of gold rose as investors kept an eye on rising geopolitical tensions.

"Heading into the holiday weekend, people are a little bit nervous to add on to their positions," said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.38 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,353.78. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 6.72 points, or 0.03 percent, to 20,651.30. The Nasdaq composite index slid 14.15 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,866.77.

Small-company stocks bucked the downward trend. The Russell 2000 index rose 9.86 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,376.95. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange.

Major indexes started off in the red early Tuesday and held their course the rest of the day as traders monitored the latest headlines on North Korea and Russia-U.S. relations.

North Korea said there could be "catastrophic consequences" after the U.S. ordered the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its battle group to waters off the Korean Peninsula. Nerves were already on edge with U.S.-South Korea war games underway, following recent ballistic missile launches by the North that have rattled neighboring countries.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Moscow to meet with Russian officials about the Syrian civil war.

Wall Street's so-called "fear index," known as the VIX, surged 7.3 percent to its highest level since November. Government bonds also reflected growing unease among investors. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year note fell to 2.30 percent from 2.36 percent late Monday. As bond prices rise, yields drop.

And gold, often sought out by investors in times of global uncertainty, rose $20.30, or 1.6 percent, to $1,274.20 an ounce.

"One of our predictions this year is we're going to have higher volatility," said Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at Nuveen Asset Management. "It's to be expected with all the economic uncertainties, all the geopolitical uncertainties."

Investors cheered the latest batch of corporate deal news.

Supervalu climbed 5.5 percent after the supermarket chain agreed to buy grocery distributor Unified Grocers for $375 million, most of which will go to pay Unified Grocers' debt. Shares in Supervalu added 21 cents to $4.

Shares of Brazilian airline Azul opened at $22 in a market debut on Tuesday. They rose as much as 8 percent during trading but ended the day at $21.50. The airline, Brazil's No. 3 by passenger count, had tried since 2013 to float an initial public offering.

Rebounding from an early slide, benchmark crude oil rose 32 cents to close at $53.40 a barrel in New York, its sixth gain in a row. Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, added 25 cents to close at $56.23 a barrel.

Business on 04/12/2017

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