US Markets Today: S&P 500 Flat, Dow Opens Lower After Trump's Tariff Letters

Wall Street opened mixed on Tuesday after the United States issued tariff letters to 14 countries a day ago.

S&P 500 was up 0.03% at open before falling 0.06%, whereas the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 0.23% and Dow Jones was down 0.16%.

On Monday as well, the benchmark US indices edged lower after President Donald Trump announced tariffs on Japan and South Korea. This was after the markets were at record high for two consecutive sessions.

Seven out of the 11 sectoral indices edged higher in early trade, while four traded in the red. The S&P 500 energy sector and healthcare sectors were leading the rise, whereas consumer staples, financials sector, industrials sector, and utilities sectors were the only sectors in the negative.

Boeing co., shares were up nearly 0.48%, while Nvidia Corp. rose 0.50%. Shares of Johnson & Johnson and Walt Disney Co. also advanced 0.46% and 0.10% respectively. Hershey Co., fell 1.82% along with Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. that fell 1.93% and 1.85% respectively.

As the US market opened, spot gold fell 0.64% to $3,315.09 an ounce. Crude oil prices fell, with Brent trading 0.07% lower at $69.53 per barrel.

The Bloomberg Dollar Index rose 0.2%, with the British Pound falling 0.4% to $1.3550, while the Japanese yen was down 0.5% at 146.82 per dollar.

Bitcoin, the largest traded cryptocurrency, rose 0.9% to $108,900.06