Wall Street Ends Mixed as Stocks React to Fed and Tariff News

By Noel Randewich and Sukriti Gupta
(Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes ended mixed on Tuesday as gains in Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) offset losses in Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), while investors parsed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell‘s latest comments.

The U.S. central bank is in no rush to cut its short-term interest rate again given the economy is “strong overall”, with low unemployment and inflation still above the Fed’s 2% target, Powell said in opening remarks at a Senate Banking Committee hearing.

Investors were also on the lookout for any new tariff comments from U.S. President Donald Trump, a day after he substantially raised levies on imports of steel and aluminum and indicated there would be announcements over the next two days about reciprocal tariffs on all countries that impose duties on U.S. goods.

Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, stated that “Valuations are elevated, company guidance is measured, inflation is persistent, government policy is uncertain, tariff talk is ongoing and global tensions are elevated. So in aggregate, the level of uncertainty is high, which implies increased volatility.”

Coca-Cola advanced 4.7% after the beverage maker beat fourth-quarter revenue estimates, helped by higher prices and resilient demand for its sodas and juices.

Tesla tumbled 6.3% a day after reports indicated a consortium led by CEO Elon Musk offered $97 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls the artificial intelligence startup OpenAI.

Powell’s Senate testimony is the first of two days of hearings on Capitol Hill. He is set to speak to the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

Traders expect at least one 25-basis-point rate cut from the Fed this year, and a 44% chance of another reduction of the same magnitude, according to LSEG data.

January consumer price index data is scheduled to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT) on Wednesday, before Powell’s next appearance.

Apple climbed 2.2% after The Information reported the company is partnering with Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) to develop and roll out artificial intelligence features for iPhone users in China.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.03% to end the session at 6,068.50 points. The Nasdaq declined 0.36% to 19,643.86 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.28% to 44,593.65 points.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively heavy, with 15.4 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 14.9 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.

Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, eight rose, with consumer staples leading with a 0.91% increase, followed by a 0.76% gain in energy. Consumer discretionary fell 1.2%.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) rose 4.7% after activist Elliott Investment Management said it had built a stake of more than $2.5 billion in the oil refiner.

DuPont de Nemours (NYSE:DD) jumped almost 7% after raising its 2025 profit forecast on strong demand for electronics.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) rallied 6.2% after forecasting higher-than-expected adjusted profit for 2025.

Fidelity National Information Services (NASDAQ:III) sank over 11% after forecasting first-quarter profit below estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 by a 1.1-to-one ratio. Across the U.S. stock market, declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by a 1.3-to-one ratio.