Wall Street Close: Traders’ indecision leads to another sluggish day

• US equities closed mixed amid cautious markets, mixed clues.
• Reddit-backed mania continues to propel small-cap shares but macro fears balance the broad move.
• Dow drops 0.10%, S&P 500 flat but Nasdaq benefits from downbeat yields.

US shares marked modest performance by the end of Tuesday’s North American trading. Although downbeat US Treasury yields and a jump in “meme” stocks helped Nasdaq to remain positive for the third consecutive day, cautious sentiment ahead of the key Thursday capped Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) and S&P 500 for one more day.

That said, chatters over Apple’s move forward towards the electric vehicle couldn’t propel the stock beyond 1.0% daily gain whereas Amazon rose 1.6% on a sustained downtrend in the US Treasury yields. Tesla also failed to cheer upbeat car production data from China while VIX, a gauge of market anxiety, dropped to the lowest in over a year.

Stocks like Clover Health Investments jumped over 85% whereas other top-tier meme stocks, including GameStop, gained around 7-12% on a day.

Amid these plays, DJI posted 0.09% losses on a day, or down 30.42 points, to 34,599.82. S&P 500 remained mostly unchanged near 4,227 but Nasdaq stays sturdy with 43.19 points of upside, or 0.31%, to 13,924.91.

On a broader format, mixed plays of inflation jitters and a lack of clarity over the Fed’s next moves joined another strong US jobs report and a reduction in the trade deficit. The escalating US-China tussles and chip woes also contributed their part to keep investors sidelined.

It’s worth noting that the US inflation expectations extended the south-run to a six-week low, taking the US 10-year Treasury yield down near four basis points to 1.54%, which in turn helped technology shares. However, cautious sentiment ahead of Thursday’s US inflation and the ECB joined a lack of positive updates over US President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan to weigh on the markets.

Given the light calendar and the last day of a wait ahead of the week’s bumper session, investors could keep a subdued mood on Wednesday. However, the social-media short squeeze might entertain the momentum traders.