NEW YORK >> U.S. stocks drifted lower Tuesday as momentum cooled for the torrid “Trump trade” that swept Wall Street following Donald Trump’s presidential victory.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% a day after setting its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 382 points, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1%.
Stocks had been broadly rising since last week on expectations that Trump’s preference for lower tax rates and other policies may mean faster economic growth, as well as bigger U.S. government debt and higher inflation. Some areas of the market rocketed on particularly high-grade fuel, such as smaller U.S. stocks seen as benefiting the most from Trump’s America First ideas.
They gave back some of their big gains Tuesday, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell a market-leading 1.8%. Even Tesla, run by Trump ally Elon Musk, sank. It dropped 6.1% for its first loss since before Election Day.
The stock that’s become most entwined with Trump’s popularity, Trump Media & Technology Group, fell 8.8%.
UnitedHealth Group was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 and fell 1.7% after the U.S. Justice Department sued to block its $3.3 billion purchase of Amedisys, saying the deal would hinder access to home health and hospice services. Amedisys sank 1.8%.
A jump in Treasury yields also added pressure on the stock market, as trading of U.S. government bonds resumed following Monday’s Veterans Day holiday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped to 4.42% from 4.31% late Friday, a notable move for the bond market.
Treasury yields have been climbing sharply since September, in large part because the U.S. economy has remained much more resilient than feared.
Some rise in yields has also been because of Trump. He talks up tariffs and other policies that economists say could drive inflation and the U.S. government’s debt higher. That puts upward pressure on Treasury yields and could hinder the Fed’s plans to cut interest rates.