By Christiana Sciaudone
Investing.com -- The Dow closed up while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slumped with tech companies losing favor on vaccine hopes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 262 points, or 0.9%. The S&P 500 was down 0.11%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.37%.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) extended losses from Monday, dragging down the Nasdaq as investors turned to reopening stocks after Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) yesterday announced a promising vaccine candidate against the coronavirus. Amazon was among the biggest drags after the European Union slapped it with an antitrust complaint that sent the online retail giant down more than 3%. That, and a recall of Amazon Ring, the doorbell that apparently can catch fire and burn users.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) bucked the trend, rising ever so slightly after announcing its first chip, the M1.
President-Elect Joe Biden said Tuesday that his transition is underway and nothing is going to stop it, even if President Donald Trump continues to stew in denial. Fellow Republicans are still supporting Trump's attempt to challenge Biden's victory, but their patience may be limited, Reuters reported. Senior aides said the president must produce evidence or exit stage left. Or right, as it were.
Some travel stocks were higher on vaccine hopes, with TripAdvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP) up almost 10%. Plane maker Boeing (NYSE:BA) rose 5% on hopes that its 737 Max will return to the skies before 2021.
Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) gained after announcing a deal to create a shop within a shop at select Target (NYSE:TGT) locations in the U.S.
Cruise lines, on the other hand, were among the biggest losers after Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) reported a worse-than-expected loss and sales that fell far short of estimates. Carnival (NYSE:CUK) fell 13% after announcing a share sale under its previous $1 billion “at-the-market” equity offering program.
Peloton (NASDAQ:PTON), which plummeted 20% yesterday on the stay-at-home sell off, increased 5% after announcing a deal with Beyonce.
Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) tanked 17% after reporting miserable third quarter earnings and being unable to fully clear up whether or not it is a partner or rival to McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) new McPlant plant-based non-meat product under development. That said, Pizza Hut will sell Beyond Meat-topped pizzas.
Gold recovered after a rough Monday, up about 1.2% at under $1,900 an ounce.
U.S. job openings rose 84,000 to 6.4 million in September, the Labor Department said on Tuesday in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS. The job openings rate was unchanged at 4.3%. Layoffs dropped 200,000 to 1.3 million.