US close: Stocks bounce but Facebook, Twitter hit by data concerns

Wall Street was back in positive territory on Tuesday after the heavy losses seen during the previous session, with the tech sector still in focus following the latest revelations regarding Facebook but traders thinking ahead about interest rates.

As the closing bell rang, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 116.36 or 0.47% higher at 24,727.27, with the S&P 500 having added 0.15% to 2,716.94 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite booting up 0.27% to 7,364.30.

Ahead of an expected interest rate hike at the end of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting, the dollar was at its best levels since the start of the month, with the dollar index up 0.5% at 90.42.

New Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will preside over the meeting of the Federal Open Markets Committee for the first time this week. Markets have already priced in a 25 basis points interest rate hike but are still awaiting the latest so-called 'dot plot' projections from US rate-setters for a better guide as to how many more rate increases are on the cards for this year.

Economists at Credit Suisse said they now expect the Federal Open Markets Committee to raise rates four times this year, which is more than the three 'dots' currently indicated and which have been priced in by the market.

Pantheon Macroeconomics disagreed: "To add another dot this year, five FOMC members would have to flip, and that seems a tall order. We would not be surprised, though, to see fewer forecasts at the low end of the range and a couple moving to the upside. In December, only three members expected four hikes this year, with one looking for five."

While there is increased chatter about four potential interest-rate hikes from the Federal Reserve this year, David Madden at CMC Markets said it comes at a time when geopolitical tensions are higher than normal. "The call for four rate hikes is bullish, but it seems to ignore the possibility of protectionist policies."

On the corporate front, Facebook lost further ground after losing nearly $40bn of its market cap the day before. Tuesday's news was that the social media company was being investigated by the US Federal Trade Commission about how its users' personal data was used by a political consultancy to help Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "The big worry will be whether the Facebook news will widen into a larger investigation and as result, the dip buyers will stay their hand for the time being."

Social media rival Twitter lost 10%, though other parts of the tech space were mixed, with Amazon up almost 3% to overtake Alphabet in terms of market value, as the Google owner's stock slipped 0.4%.

Elsewhere in the tech sector, Oracle tumbled 9.34% as its guidance report released late the prior day left analysts disappointed. The software giant predicted cloud-computing revenue would rise 19-23% in the fourth quarter, which fell short of Street expectations for at least 27% growth.

Tech deal of the day was at MuleSoft, which jumped 27% to $33 after rumours emerged that Salesforce.com was in advanced talks to buy the software maker. The deal was later confirmed by Salesforce.com, which has agreed to pay $44.89 in cash and shares per share of the API technology specialist, of which $36 will be in cash.

Hollywood's MGM Holdings picked up 0.22% after it announced that chairman and chief executive Gary Barber had been fired.

Dow Jones - Risers

Boeing Co. (BA) $337.81 1.77%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $66.80 1.66%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $51.55 1.42%
Visa Inc. (V) $124.91 1.38%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $154.05 1.26%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $141.48 1.04%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $226.78 0.77%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $131.21 0.74%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $178.16 0.60%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $87.95 0.57%

Dow Jones - Fallers

General Electric Co. (GE) $13.64 -3.06%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $47.69 -1.28%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $156.23 -0.73%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $78.31 -0.44%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $66.41 -0.26%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $43.16 -0.23%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $73.99 -0.22%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $101.35 -0.13%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $175.24 -0.03%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $127.16 -0.03%

S&P 500 - Risers

Dover Corp. (DOV) $103.92 4.01%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $249.58 3.56%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $229.75 3.41%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $3.11 3.32%
Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) $71.46 3.25%
Hess Corp. (HES) $48.40 3.05%
Eog Resources Inc. (EOG) $101.33 2.90%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $15.26 2.76%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $1,586.51 2.69%
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) $58.48 2.56%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Endo International Plc (ENDP) $6.05 -9.84%
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $47.05 -9.43%
Cardinal Health Inc. (CAH) $65.41 -6.54%
AutoNation Inc. (AN) $47.81 -4.70%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class C (DISCK) $20.31 -4.38%
Qorvo, Inc. (QRVO) $75.07 -4.27%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class A (DISCA) $21.99 -4.18%
Mallinckrodt Plc Ordinary Shares (MNK) $14.57 -4.14%
Amerisource Bergen Corp. (ABC) $89.19 -4.10%
McKesson Corp. (MCK) $141.81 -3.94%