US stock markets showed no clear direction on Tuesday. The Dow Jones closed at 44,594 points, a 0.3% increase from the previous day’s close. The S&P 500, a broader market index, ended the trading day with a 0.03% gain, at 6,069 points, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite suffered losses, with the Nasdaq 100 closing at 21,694 points, a 0.3% decline.
Market participants were once again preoccupied with interest rate rumors. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank should not rush to lower interest rates. “Given that our policy is now clearly less restrictive than it was before and the economy is still strong, we should not hurry in adjusting our policy” Powell said in a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Tuesday.
In the Dow, Coca-Cola led the gains, with a nearly 5% increase, followed by Apple and IBM, with gains of over 2%. On the other hand, Salesforce, Honeywell and Cisco were among the notable losers.
The European common currency was stronger on Tuesday evening, with one euro equivalent to 1.0361 US dollars and one US dollar to 0.9652 euros.
The gold price showed a downward trend, with a price of 2,898 US dollars per ounce, a 0.4% decrease, or 89.92 euros per gram.
In contrast, the oil price rose significantly, with a barrel of Brent crude oil trading at 76.90 US dollars, a 1.4% increase from the previous day’s close, as of 22:00 Central European Time on Tuesday.