U.S. stocks traded mostly higher on Tuesday after a March inflation report turned out not as bad as some traders feared, but the impact of a halt to the rollout of Johnson & Johnson vaccine kept optimism in check.
The Dow Jones Industrials sank 68.13 points to end the session at 33,677.27, after dropping more than 150 points earlier in the session.
The S&P 500 regained 13.6 points to 4,133.49, to reach a new all-time high.
The NASDAQ Composite jumped 146.1 points, or 1.1%, to 13,996.10, as Apple and PayPal each added more than 2%. Semiconductor maker Nvidia climbed 3%, Tesla rose 8.6%.
Re-opening trades came under pressure Tuesday morning after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it’s recommending a pause in the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after reported cases of blood clotting.
Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said later Tuesday that she expects the pause to last “a matter of days.” More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the U.S. J&J shares fell 2.4%.
Still, shares of companies that would be hurt the most if the vaccine rollout slows underperformed Tuesday.
Alaska Air and American Airlines both lost 1.5%; car-rental company Avis Budget shed nearly 1%. Shares of Moderna, which makes another coronavirus vaccine, jumped 7.4% following the J&J news, which was reported first by The New York Times.
Corporate news is set to pick up later in the week, with JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Delta Air Lines among the companies set to report quarterly results.
The consumer price index, one of Wall Street’s most-popular inflation gauges, rose 0.6% in March and increased 2.6% from the same period a year ago. Economists polled by Dow Jones were projecting the headline index to rise by 0.5% month over month and 2.5% year over year.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys gained ground, dropping yields to 1.62% from Monday’s 1.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices acquired 72 cents to $60.42 U.S. a barrel.
Gold picked up $13.10 to $1,745.80 U.S. an ounce.