By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 squeaked past its previous record closing high on Tuesday at the top of a holiday-shortened week, with earnings season winding down, U.S. Federal Reserve minutes on tap, and geopolitical uncertainties churning in the background.
The three major stock indexes wobbled between red and green for much of the session, but all three managed to flip green in the closing minutes.
"There's a little bit of a three-day weekend hangover today," said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha. "There's just truly not a lot going on, which kind of a nice change as we simply consolidate right beneath potential new all-time highs."
"At the same time we have the Fed minutes, coming out tomorrow and big retail earnings also coming out later this week," Detrick added. "But when you put it all together, you have a day like today where it's just kind of 'wait-and-see.'"
On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to release the minutes of its January policy meeting, at which the voting members elected to let interest rates stand amid signs of an inflation rebound and the unknown extent and effects of President Trump's threatened tariffs.
Remarks from U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers largely adhered to the same script, with Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Governors Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller saying they believe economic strength and elevated inflation warrant holding the policy rate steady for the time being.
San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly reiterated that a pause in rate cuts is appropriate until more visible progress is made toward bringing inflation down to the Fed's 2% goal.
The minutes will be scrutinized for clues regarding the central bank's path forward, particularly in light of recent data, which shows price growth gaining momentum, falling consumer sentiment and weaker-than-expected retail sales.
"The Fed is being reasonably transparent here," said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. "There's been evidence that the economy is slowing down a little bit and I'm sure they're watching that. But I don't think they feel significant pressure, at least at this point, to drop rates anytime soon."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 10.26 points, or 0.02%, to 44,556.34, the S&P 500 gained 14.95 points, or 0.24%, to 6,129.58 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 14.49 points, or 0.07%, to 20,041.26.
Fourth-quarter earnings season has come around the final bend, with 383 companies in the S&P 500 having reported as of Friday. Of those, 74% have posted better-than-expected results, according to LSEG data.
Analysts currently see fourth-quarter S&P 500 earnings growth of 15.3% year-on-year, up from the 9.6% estimate as it stood on Jan. 1.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) jumped 16.1% after a report over the weekend said rivals Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) were considering potential deals that could split the chipmaker in two.
The move gave a boost to the Philadelphia SE semiconductor index, which gained 1.7%.
Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) jumped 4.0% after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) disclosed a new investment in the company on Friday.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) slid 2.8%, snapping its 20-session winning streak.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.53-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 298 new highs and 85 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 2,289 stocks rose and 2,087 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.1-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 29 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 126 new highs and 113 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 16.36 billion shares, compared with the 15.57 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.