Investing.com – Stocks slumped Tuesday on word an impeachment inquiry will be started against President Trump as well as on Trump's angry rhetoric over both China and Iran.
The S&P 500 was off 0.84% and finished below 3,000 for a third straight day. The Dow Jones industrials fell 0.5%. The NASDAQ Composite dropped 1.46%, with small caps taking a big hit. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) were big losers.
The market was mostly buffeted by political news all day and the climax came on news House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was going to announce a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump later Tuesday.
The move came as the president promised to release a transcript of his phone call with Ukraine's president, which sparked questions of whether the Administration was trying to bully the eastern European country into investigating former Vice President Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
Meanwhile, the president slammed China for its stubbornness in not acceding to U.S. demands for more open markets. He also railed against Iran, saying the nation had blood lust.
A weak report on consumer confidence from the Conference Board also pressured stocks.
Lastly, WeWork CEO Adam Neumann stepped aside in the wake of investor skepticism about its finances and the initial public offering it pulled.
But, after the close, Dow component Nike (NYSE:NKE) shares jumped as much as 6% and hit all-time highs after the athletic footwear and equipment company beat analyst estimates on revenue and earnings.
Crude Oil fell with West Texas Intermediate crude ending at $57.29, down $1.35. Brent oil futures fell to $63.10 a barrel, down $1.67.
But, overall, investors wanted safety. Utilities and consumer staples stocks were the only sectors to move higher. Energy, technology and communications services were among the weakest sectors, with stocks like Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER), LYFT (NASDAQ:LYFT) and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) tumbling,
Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC), Hershey (NYSE:HSY), Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) and Boeing Co . (NYSE:BA) were among the winners.
Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) hit new highs.
Gold Futures moved higher. Interest rates dropped. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.637% from Monday's 1.708%.