US stocks eased on Tuesday as investors took a breather following a robust multi-week rally.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4%, pressured by weakness in technology stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered just under the flatline in choppy trade.
Technology led the market lower, with the sector down nearly 0.9%.
Shares of Nvidia fell 1%, and other tech heavyweights, including Meta Platforms, Apple, and Microsoft, also registered declines.
The pullback in tech weighed on the broader market, pausing the momentum from recent sessions.
Home Depot bucked the trend, rising 2% after affirming its full-year guidance.
The retailer maintained its outlook for 2.8% growth in full-year sales, with CFO Richard McPhail stating the company has no plans to raise prices despite the renewed threat of tariffs.
The session followed a modest uptick on Monday that extended the S&P 500’s winning streak to six consecutive sessions, its longest since a nine-day stretch earlier this month.
While gains were incremental, they capped a sharp rebound that has left the benchmark index just 3% below its all-time high.
The rally has persisted in spite of persistent macro headwinds, including concerns over the economic fallout from elevated tariffs and renewed recession fears.
Investors also largely shrugged off Moody’s downgrade of the US sovereign credit rating, which highlighted rising fiscal pressures and a deteriorating debt outlook.
Retail investors “buy the dip”
Retail investors surged into the market on Monday, shrugging off Moody’s downgrade of the US credit rating with record-setting dip-buying activity.
According to data from JPMorgan’s trading desk, individual investors purchased a net $4.1 billion worth of equities by 12:30 pm ET—the highest intraday total ever recorded at that time and a statistically extreme move, exceeding 11 standard deviations from the norm.
By the close of trading, net retail purchases reached $5.4 billion.
Retail traders accounted for 36% of total market volume during the session, also a record, JPMorgan noted.
Their aggressive buying helped lift the S&P 500, which had been down nearly 1% at its lows, to a marginal 0.09% gain, marking the index’s sixth straight day of gains.
The buying spree followed Moody’s decision to cut the US sovereign credit rating by one notch from Aaa to Aa1, citing escalating fiscal deficits and the rising cost of debt amid elevated interest rates.
While institutional investors have grown increasingly cautious, concerned about recession risks and capital flight amid President Donald Trump’s tariff-driven protectionist stance, retail buyers have continued to lean into volatility.
The “buy-the-dip” approach has become entrenched among retail investors this year.
In April, amid escalating tariff tensions, they poured $40 billion into equities—a new monthly record—highlighting a willingness to step in even as macroeconomic uncertainty and political headwinds persist.
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