Stocks closed lower on Wall Street, giving up an early gain and losing momentum after a solid start to the week. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% Tuesday. Gains by several Big Tech companies helped limit the loss in the Nasdaq to less than 0.1%. Banks and energy companies fell the most. Investors are still worried that rising inflation could eventually prompt central banks to withdraw help for the economy. The S&P 500 fell 8.92 points to 4,188.13. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 81.52 points, or 0.2%, to 34,312.46. Homebuilders rose following a report that US home prices jumped in March by the most in more than seven years as an increasing number of would-be buyers compete for a dwindling supply of houses, the AP reports.
DR Horton rose 2.9% and Toll Brothers gained 2.3%. KB Home rose 4.2% after also reporting that orders have so far more than doubled during the second quarter. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index jumped 13.3% in March compared with a year earlier—the biggest such gain since December 2013. That price surge followed a 12% year-over-year jump in February. The red-hot housing market and a report that consumer confidence remains strong gave investors another signal that the economic recovery continues. Inflation remains a concern, but Katie Nixon, chief investment officer at Northern Trust Wealth Management, says inflation fears "seem to have come off the boil a little bit."
(More
stock market stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
