US stocks drift to a mixed finish as yields fall on shopper data

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Wall Street opened Tuesday with a steady tone but ended with a split, as investors balanced mixed corporate earnings against a bond-market move tied to consumer data. Treasury yields fell after a report showed U.S. retailers made less money at the end of last year than economists expected, and shoppers spent roughly the same amount in December as in November. That combination left traders focused on whether consumer spending momentum is weakening ahead of more economic releases this week.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% after briefly moving above its all-time high set a couple weeks earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 52 points, or 0.1%, to another record, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.6%.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.14% from 4.22% late Monday. Tuesday’s move came after the retail-sales report showed smaller profits at retailers than economists expected, even though spending in December was roughly unchanged from November and missed the modest growth economists had projected.

The retail data also set expectations for how the Federal Reserve might weigh interest-rate policy. The Fed has kept its interest-rate cuts on hold, and the same economy-watch mix that can support rate cuts also carries the risk that “too-hot” inflation could delay any move for longer. At the same time, a weakening jobs picture could encourage the Fed to resume cuts more quickly.

Market pricing shifted after Tuesday’s discouraging shopper report. Traders increased bets that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates three times or more this year, according to data from CME Group, though most expectations still pointed to two cuts as more likely.

Individual stocks reflected that uneven mix of signals. Coca-Cola fell 1.5% after its revenue for the latest quarter came in short of analysts’ expectations, and it also issued a forecast for an underlying measure of growth next year that was less than some analysts expected.

S&P Global dropped 9.7% after it forecast profit for the upcoming year below what analysts expected. The company has faced recent pressure amid worries that competitors using artificial-intelligence technology could take customers for its data services; its shares entered the day with a loss of 15% for the year so far.

Hasbro, by contrast, rose 7.5% after topping analysts’ expectations for both profit and revenue in the latest quarter. The toymaker attributed strength in particular to its “Magic: The Gathering” game, and it also announced a program to return up to $1 billion to investors through stock buybacks.

DuPont rose 4.9% after reporting better-than-expected results for the latest quarter and setting a 2026 profit forecast above analysts’ expectations. Warner Bros. Discovery climbed 2.2% after Paramount said it had increased its offer to buy the entertainment company.

Paramount is increasing its offer of $30 per share by 25 cents per share for each quarter that its buyout has not closed past the end of the year, and the company said it would pay $2.8 billion to help Warner Bros. Discovery exit its buyout deal with Netflix. Paramount Skydance’s stock rose 1.5%, and Netflix rose 0.9%.

Outside the U.S., Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied for a second day on expectations that a newly elected parliament could help the country’s prime minister push through tax cuts and other measures aimed at boosting the economy; the Nikkei gained 2.3% to another record. Other Asian markets were more modest, while European indexes were mixed.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 23.01 points to 6,941.81, the Dow rose 52.27 to 50,188.14, and the Nasdaq composite fell 136.20 to 23,102.47.