US close: Mixed trading following solid gains in previous session
US stocks turned in a mixed performance on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones closing lower as investors seemingly lost some of the confidence that led to big gains in previous sessions.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.30% at 26,179.13, while the S&P 500 was flat at 2,867.24. The Nasdaq, however, closed 0.25% higher at 7,848.69.
The Dow closed 79 points lower after Wall Street's main market gauges reclaimed their October highs on Monday.
In other news, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency proposed a rule aimed at limiting the impact of the failure of larger banks.
With banks being required to issue debt that would convert to equity if they go bankrupt, the banking agencies proposed changes are intended to discourage large global banks from buying debt-to-equity issuance from their peers by slapping them with a penalty on purchases.
"This would reduce interconnectedness between large banking organisations and, if [one] were to fail, reduce the impact on the financial system from that failure," the agencies said.
On the other side of the pond, Westminster's inability to decide on any concrete alternative to Prime Minister Theresa May's withdrawal proposal, during the previous session, was also somewhat restraining traders, although by and large analysts appeared confident that a deal would be agreed in the end.
West Texas Intermediate improved 1.59% to $62.57 a barrel, while the cost of a barrel of Brent Crude increased 0.59% to $69.42 each.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin jumped 16.48% to just shy of $5,000, marking the cryptocurrency's largest daily jump in more than half a decade.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam noted that Bitcoin's performance seemed like a bit of "blast from the past" as every time the cryptocurrency had traded around $4,200-4,400 since late November, its price "peaked and headed south."
The USD picked up 0.47% against the GBP to 0.7668.
Shares in ridesharing firm Lyft were down 0.058%, having closed below their IPO price of $72 during the prior day's trading.
Walgreens Boots Alliance tumbled 12.81% after the pharmacy chain disappointed with its second-quarter results, while GameStop closed 7.43% weaker ahead of its fourth-quarter results.
On the data front, US durable goods orders declined at a 1.6% month-on-month pace in February to reach $251bn, according to the Department of Commerce. Economists had expected a drop of 1.2%.
Orders for capital goods were also weaker, dipping by 0.1% on the month (consensus: 0.3%) at the so-called 'core' level.
Elsewhere, US auto sales stumbled during the first quarter of the trading year, applying pressure to automakers already dealing with weaker global conditions.
GM, Nissan and Fiat Chrysler saw sales fall 7% in March alone, while Toyota reported a 5% drop for the three months ended 31 March.