Investing.com-- The S&P 500 and Nasdaq clinched closing record highs for second-straight day Tuesday, ahead of a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and monthly jobs data due later this week.
At 4:00 p.m. ET (21:00 GMT), the S&P 500 rose 0.04% to close at a record of 6,049.50, while NASDAQ Composite rose 0.4% to a closing record of 19,478.89, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%.
Jobs data continue to roll ahead of payrolls
U.S. job openings, a gauge of labor demand, rose in October to 7.7 million, up from 7.4M in September, topping economists estimates of 7.5M.
The better-than-expected jobs point to underlying health in the labor market just days ahead of November's nonfarm payrolls report due Friday.
Several Fed members have continued to stress the importance of monitoring incoming economic data to gauge the pace of rate cuts.
Fed governor Christopher Waller said Monday he was leaning toward backing a rate cut in December, but also cautioned that any upside surprise in the economic data would sway his decision.
Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak Wednesday.
While markets have so far maintained expectations for a December rate cut, the longer-term outlook is more uncertain, especially on the prospect of inflationary policies under a Trump administration.
Tesla falls as Delaware court blocks Musk's 56B pay package; Zscaler slumps on softer guidance
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell more than 1% after a Delaware court upheld its decision to invalidate Elon Musk’s $56 billion compensation package.
The decision came even as Tesla shareholders voted to reinstate the package, and was deemed excessive by the court, which had first struck down the package in January.
Zscaler Inc (NASDAQ:ZS) fell more than 4% after issuing Monday softer current-quarter guidance that overshadowed better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results and a lift to annual guidance.
FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) fell more than 4% after Bernstein downgraded its rating on the company to market-perform from buy, citing execution, event, and policy risks.
(Ambar Warrick and Navamya Acharya contributed to this article)