US open: Stocks slip again amid concern about 'higher for longer' interest rates

Stocks on Wall Street were again on the back foot on Tuesday with analysts in the City attributing the selling to recent hawkish remarks from top officials at the Federal Reserve.

"But rather than be buoyed at the prospect of no further hikes, investors are apprehensive, even a little fearful," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

"In the case of the Fed, policymakers have also been on a hawkish PR campaign, talking up the prospects of another rate hike to combat the extremely resilient economy that threatens to jeopardize the central bank's goal of returning inflation sustainably to target."

Against that backdrop, as of 1535 BST the Dow Jones Industrials was off by 0.84% to 33,720.07, led by drops in shares of Apple and Microsoft, alongside a 1.06% decline for the S&P 500 to 4,291.72.

Volatility on the other hand continued to pick up with the CBoE's VIX gauge jumping 9.11% to 18.44.

Gold was down, but oil, the U.S. dollar index and Treasuries were roughly flat.

On that note, Mickey Levy at Berenberg Capital Markets noted that: "The Fed paused interest rate hikes at its September 19-20 meeting but signaled rates would need to remain higher for longer amid more robust than expected economic activity and sticky inflation.

"Economic data point to a slight softening in the housing market amid a surge in financing costs, but labor markets remain resilient."

The latest batch of economic data was mixed.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index plumbed a four-month low at 103.0 for September, which was down from 108.7 in the month before.

Commerce meanwhile reported that in seasonally adjusted terms the annual rate of new home sales dropped by 8.7% over the month in August to reach 675,000 (consensus: 700,000).

However, the Federal Housing and Finance Agency announced that its seasonally adjusted house price index jumped by 0.8% month-on-month in July (consensus: 0.5%).

S&P CoreLogic's Case-Shiller index tracking home prices in the 20 largest metro areas meanwhile increased by 0.9% over the month, although it was ahead by just 0.1% year-on-year.

Dow Jones - Risers

Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $106.02 0.17%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $167.95 0.07%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $34.30 0.03%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $21.34 0.02%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $90.42 -0.20%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $266.29 -0.21%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $159.75 -0.32%
3M Co. (MMM) $94.48 -0.33%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $162.53 -0.33%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Apple Inc. (AAPL) $172.94 -1.78%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $312.01 -1.74%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $148.90 -1.17%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $303.11 -1.10%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $325.31 -1.07%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $271.51 -1.01%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $204.32 -0.98%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $80.23 -0.96%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $167.13 -0.94%
American Express Co. (AXP) $151.84 -0.91%

S&P 500 - Risers

Resmed Inc. (RMD) $143.49 3.76%
Gap Inc. (GPS) $10.42 1.67%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $76.04 1.62%
Smith A O Corp. (AOS) $65.32 1.31%
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW) $70.24 1.12%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH) $15.33 0.99%
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) $86.78 0.98%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $300.18 0.72%
IQVIA Holdings Inc. (IQV) $203.68 0.64%
Quest Diagnostics (DGX) $125.05 0.60%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Cintas Corp. (CTAS) $488.27 -3.41%
Coty Inc. Class A (COTY) $11.40 -3.35%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $127.36 -2.98%
Sl Green Realty Corp. (SLG) $35.51 -2.90%
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $105.22 -2.85%
Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $128.80 -2.55%
Estee Lauder Co. Inc. (EL) $141.79 -2.54%
Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $127.82 -2.51%
Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) $91.37 -2.51%
Albemarle Corp. (ALB) $162.75 -2.48%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $76.04 1.62%
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) $87.70 0.76%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $300.18 0.72%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $0.57 0.49%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $34.33 0.45%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $90.99 0.38%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $58.96 0.36%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $64.68 0.35%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $73.96 0.28%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $12.94 0.19%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Cintas Corp. (CTAS) $488.27 -3.41%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $127.36 -2.98%
Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $128.80 -2.55%
Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $127.82 -2.51%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $29.08 -2.37%
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $3.92 -2.24%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $573.31 -2.19%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $171.78 -2.08%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $129.00 -1.83%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $172.94 -1.78%