German construction sector still in recession, civil engineering only bright spot
Investing.com-- The Nasdaq clinched a closing record high Tuesday despite a fall in Apple as the tech giant’s unveiling of new iPhone models didn’t stoke investor optimism.
At 4:00 p.m. ET (20:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 196 points, or 0.4%, the S&P 500 index gained 0.3%, while the NASDAQ Composite climbed 0.4% to a fresh closing record of 21,879.49.
Apple falls after unveils iPhone 17 at event; Oracle, GameStop earnings in spotlight
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell more than 1% after unveiling a slew of new iPhones, and other hardware products at its “Awe Dropping” fall event on Tuesday at Apple Park in Cupertino.
Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro will start $1099, up $100 from the previous pro model, in-line with analyst expectations. The tech giant also unveiled a $999 iPhone Air, which replaces the iPhone 16 Plus. The price of Apple’s entry-level iPhone 17 was kept at $799.
In the corporate sector, highlighting the earnings calendar on Tuesday will be software name Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), which is due to report its latest quarterly returns after the closing bell.
The new iPhone comes with Apple’s new in-house networking chip phasing out Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO)’s chips, sending shares of the latter down 2.6%.
Elsewhere, Atlassian (NASDAQ:TEAM) shares rose after the software maker announced plans to phase out its Data Center products over the next six years, raising hopes this could lift cloud adoption and revenue growth.
Core & Main (NYSE:CNM) stock slumped after the water infrastructure firm reported fiscal second-quarter results that missed market forecasts and issued soft guidance for the current quarter.
Jobs growth revised lower
The level of U.S. employment for the 12 months through March was likely 911,000 roles less than previously estimated, a sharp downward revision which suggests that a slowdown in the American labor market may have begun prior to the announcement of President Donald Trump’s sweeping import tariffs.
Economists had anticipated that the preliminary benchmark employment revision from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period from April 2024 to March 2025 would be lowered by between 400,000 and 1 million jobs. The changes aim to better factor in businesses that may have opened or closed during that time.
The estimate is based on the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, which is derived primarily from state unemployment insurance tax records that nearly all employers must file with state workforce agencies.
Still some on Wall Street remain skeptical about the large downward revision.
"We think that today’s downward revision to job growth is likely too large because 1) the QCEW source data itself has persistently been revised upward and 2) it likely excludes many unauthorized immigrants who were initially accurately captured in payrolls," Goldman Sachs said in a note.
A final benchmark revision will be issued in February 2026 with the publication of the BLS’s employment report for January.
Attention is also on Thursday’s consumer price index report for August, which could be critical in determining how aggressive the Fed can be in easing policy.
The print is expected to reflect some of the inflationary effects of Trump’s tariffs, given that a bulk of them took effect last month.
Producer price index inflation data is due before this on Wednesday.
Crude rises on fresh geopolitical risks after Israel strikes Hamas in Qatar
Oil prices headed higher, led by fresh geopolitical concerns after Israel hit senior Hamas leaders in Qatar’s capital Doha. Qatar said the strike was a "blatant violation" of international law, and vowed to defend its sovereignty.
At 1:04 p.m. ET, Brent futures gained 0.8% to $66.56 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.8% to $62.78 a barrel.
Energy stocks including Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY), and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) moved sharply higher.
Scott Kanowsky and Ayushman Ojha contributed to this article