US close: Stocks lower as traders look to energy prices, JOLTs data

Wall Street stocks closed lower on Tuesday as market participants continued to zero in on moves in the energy market and digested labour market data from the Census Bureau.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.59% at 33,402.38, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.58% to 4,100.60 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.52% weaker at 12,126.33

The Dow closed 198.77 points lower on Tuesday, taking a bite out of gains recorded in the previous session as the blue-chip index kicked off the second quarter in much the same way it wrapped up the first.

Investors were still focussed on oil prices throughout the session, with West Texas Intermediate futures sitting at around $80.98 per barrel, while Brent Crude futures moved to $84.94 per barrel. Tuesday morning's moves come after crude prices got a boost on Monday after OPEC+ announced it would slash output by 1.16m barrels of oil per day.

Comments from JP Morgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon also drew an amount of attention, with the bank's head honcho warning that the US banking crisis was far from being over.

"The current crisis is not yet over, and even when it is behind us, there will be repercussions from it for years to come," Dimon said. "Any crisis that damages Americans' trust in their banks damages all banks – a fact that was known even before this crisis. While it is true that this bank crisis 'benefited' larger banks due to the inflow of deposits they received from smaller institutions, the notion that this meltdown was good for them in any way is absurd."

On the macro front, US factory orders fell 0.7% in February, according to the Census Bureau, below January's revised 2.1% decrease but ahead of market expectations for a 0.5% decline. The drop, which marked the second consecutive month of decline in factory orders, came as demand for transport equipment was down 2.8% month-on-month.

Elsewhere, the number of job openings in the US fell by 632,000 to 9.9m in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the lowest level seen since May 2021 and short of market expectations for a print of 10.4m, potentially indicating that the labour market may have finally started to cool. Over the month, the largest decreases in job openings were in professional and business services, health care and social assistance, and transportation, warehousing, and utilities down 278,000, 150,000, and 145,000, respectively.

In the corporate space, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson rose almost 3% in extended trading after revealing it will pay $8.9bn over the next 25 years in order to settle allegations that its baby powder and other talc products caused cancer.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Nike Inc. (NKE) $123.69 1.66%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $247.53 1.26%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $35.85 1.10%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $39.65 1.10%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $158.49 1.05%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $33.10 0.64%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $150.23 0.48%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $197.20 0.36%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $282.28 0.05%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $217.45 -5.40%
3M Co. (MMM) $102.25 -2.22%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $168.63 -2.12%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $54.26 -1.93%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $128.42 -1.34%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $322.65 -1.19%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $147.23 -0.98%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $51.82 -0.94%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $294.96 -0.93%
American Express Co. (AXP) $162.56 -0.74%

S&P 500 - Risers

Newmont Corporation (NEM) $51.35 3.80%
Extra Space Storage (EXR) $160.17 3.66%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $125.24 3.21%
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) $121.67 2.49%
Teleflex Inc. (TFX) $256.09 1.69%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $123.69 1.66%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $103.95 1.50%
CME Group Inc. (CME) $193.04 1.43%
Xcel Energy Inc. (XEL) $68.45 1.38%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $385.15 1.33%

S&P 500 - Fallers

HF Sinclair Corporation (DINO) $44.78 -8.03%
Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) $127.43 -8.01%
United Rentals Inc. (URI) $359.20 -7.70%
Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) $125.82 -7.24%
Nucor Corp. (NUE) $143.83 -6.88%
Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) $0.69 -6.26%
CenturyLink Inc. (LUMN) $2.43 -6.18%
Allegion (ALLE) $99.97 -5.74%
Fluor Corp. (FLR) $29.67 -5.57%
Parker-Hannifin Corp. (PH) $320.66 -5.46%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $125.24 3.21%
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) $121.67 2.49%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $103.95 1.50%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $132.68 1.45%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $385.15 1.33%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $247.53 1.26%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $35.85 1.10%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $82.49 0.81%
Meta Platforms Inc. (META) $214.72 0.77%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $33.10 0.64%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $0.91 -8.84%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $8.65 -4.42%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $57.27 -3.93%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $35.95 -3.39%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $504.29 -3.30%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $70.80 -3.07%
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $3.84 -3.03%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $114.05 -2.85%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $19.41 -2.46%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $348.12 -2.27%