By Avinash P and Purvi Agarwal
Aug 11 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped in choppy trading on Tuesday, weighed down by heavyweight tech stocks, as investors assessed a report suggesting the United States and Iran were close to "some sort of an arrangement".
Pakistani defence minister Khawaja Asif told Bloomberg News that signals from recent days indicated a peace agreement was close, right after Qatar's foreign ministry said Iran-Oman talks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz were in an advanced
stage.
Brent crude futures turned lower after reaching their highest level in over a week. Rising energy costs have spurred inflation concerns and complicated the paths of central banks globally.
"When you get some indication of something positive happening — that this war is going to come to an end or some kind of an agreement — you start to see oil back off. Any positive news is better than negative news," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.
At 9:52 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 221.79 points, or 0.41%, to 54,197.77, while the S&P 500 lost 2.27 points, or 0.03%, to 7,750.84 and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 92.18 points, or 0.35%, to 26,513.18.
In the market, the S&P 500 industrials and utilities were the biggest gainers, helping offset declines in heavyweight tech and communication services stocks.
The S&P 500 information technology sector swung between gains and losses as Nvidia was up 1.2%, while Microsoft and Apple lost 0.8% and 1%, respectively.
Consumer and producer price inflation readings, due over the next two days, will be crucial in shaping market expectations on the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy path, given its focus on the inflation mandate and Chair Kevin Warsh's stance on cutting back rates guidance.
Whether the central bank would increase interest rates in September or choose to pause has split traders almost evenly, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
The S&P 500 and the Dow hovered near all-time highs hit last week, while the Nasdaq is over 2% away from its life-high but well above its lows in July, when the tech-heavy index slid almost 10% from its peak.
Strong quarterly earnings in several sectors have boosted U.S. stocks to new highs and signs of AI-related spending paying off has eased some jitters.
Drug distributor Cardinal Health gained 5% after it forecast fiscal 2027 profit well above Street expectations.
Riot Platforms jumped 9.5%, following a media report that the cloud-computing firm clinched a $9 billion deal with Anthropic.
Rocket Lab slid 3.5% after appearing to push back the timeline for the first flight of its Neutron rocket.
U.S.-listed shares of On dropped over 21% after the sportswear brand missed sales estimates.
Hims & Hers Health shed 5.5% after the telehealth company posted a wider-than-expected second-quarter loss.
LNG company Venture Global slipped about 5% after its second-quarter revenue slightly missed estimates.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.66-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.45-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and one new low while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 48 new highs and 36 new lows.
(Reporting by Avinash P and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das)
