Major indexes closed mostly higher on Wall Street as markets got set for earnings season. Technology stocks made gains, with Amazon shares rising 1.8 percent as the company rolled out its annual Prime Day shopping event.
The Dow Jones industrial average edged down 0.03 percent, or 5.82 points, to close at 21,408.52, but the S&P 500 added 0.09 percent, or 2.25 points, to close at 2,427.43 and the Nasdaq rose 0.38 percent, or 23.31 points, to end at 6,176.39.
“Amid quiet markets, it is worth pondering the potential impact of the Fed’s signaled paring back of its balance sheet. We think there is some logic to the argument that the asset classes that benefitted the most from quantitative easing are likely to be among those that might suffer most as it is unwound,” ANZ Research said in its Tuesday morning note.
In energy news, oil prices made slight gains in the last session although concerns remained over the oversupply in markets. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled 0.4 percent higher at $44.40 a barrel and Brent crude settled up 0.36 percent at $46.88 a barrel.
In currencies, the yen softened against the dollar following lower-than-expected core machinery orders for May released on Monday. The currency traded at 114.06 yen to the dollar at 6:35 a.m. HK/SIN compared to levels around the 113 handle seen last week.
The dollar index, which measures the dollar against a basket of currencies, firmed to trade at 96.063.