Financial stocks pulled down the Nasdaq and S&P 500 on Tuesday, a day before important inflation data, as investors prepared for big U.S. banks to report profits on Friday.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC), helped by chips (.SOX), advanced more, while the S&P 500 (.SPX) rose slightly. Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) closed largely unchanged.
"The markets are nervous about tomorrow's CPI report and buying protection (amid) a growing perception that it could be an uncomfortably high inflation reading," said Philadelphia's Simplify Asset Management chief analyst Michael Green. "The market is moving to hedge itself."
Due to Friday report results, JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), and Citigroup Inc (C.N) ended lower in the S&P Banking index (.SPXBK).
On Tuesday, the National Federation of Independent Business reported that small business optimism hit an 11-year low in March, with inflation as the biggest concern. Analysts expect inflation to continue falling below the U.S. central bank's 2% goal.
"The continued deterioration of the small business sentiment index is actually really important," he said. "It's the same thing that we've seen in the past couple of cycles where the larger companies are well protected while small businesses are under extraordinary pressure."
Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) lost 9.13 points, or 0.02%, to 38,883.67. S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 7.52 points, or 0.14%, at 5,209.91; Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) gained 52.68 points, or 0.32%, at 16,306.64.
Falling bitcoin prices hurt cryptocurrency and blockchain stocks. Exchange operator Coinbase Global (COIN.O) and software company MicroStrategy (MSTR.O) fell 5.5% and 4.8%, respectively.
The S&P 500 had 13 new 52-week highs and one low, while the Nasdaq Composite had 62 and 77. U.S. exchanges traded 10.31 billion shares, compared to the 20-day average of 10.31 billion.
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