Small Caps Surge, Dollar General Stock Eyes Best Day, Crude Hits 2-Week Highs: What's Driving Markets Tuesday?
Wall Street posted modest midday gains on Tuesday, as investors digested the latest developments in President Donald Trump's trade policy agenda.
On Monday, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced a three-month suspension of the planned 25% Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, including chip-containing components such as GPUs, motherboards and solar panels.
Small-cap stocks outperformed large-cap peers, buoyed by signs of labor market resilience. Stronger-than-expected job openings and a decline in job quits for April suggested continued economic strength, easing recession concerns.
Job openings rose by 191,000 to 7.391 million in April, surpassing market expectations of 7.10 million. Meanwhile, job quits dropped by 150,000 to a four-month low of 3.194 million.
The Russell 2000 jumped 1.9%, while the S&P 500 edged 0.7% higher. The small-cap index is on track for its sharpest day of relative outperformance since May 8.
The Nasdaq 100 climbed 1% to 21,700 — its highest level since Feb. 24 — with all-time highs now just 2.2% away.
Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG) outperformed all other S&P 500 members following stronger-than-expected earnings and an upbeat outlook. The stock soared 14%, eyeing its strongest-performing session since the company went public in 2009.
The U.S. dollar strengthened after eurozone inflation came in below expectations, reinforcing bets that the European Central Bank will deliver another rate cut at its Thursday meeting.
Treasury prices fell slightly, with 30-year yields inching up near the 5% mark amid persistent concerns over the U.S. fiscal outlook.
Gold eased 1%, pausing after Monday's strongest rally in nearly a month. Oil prices surged further on Tuesday, with WTI light crude hitting $63.6 a barrel — the highest in two weeks — and driving energy sector outperformance.
The past two sessions saw crude rising 5% amid Russian-related supply concerns following the Ukraine drone attack over the weekend.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) rose 0.5% to $106,000, continuing to trade within a tight range.
Tuesday’s Performance In Major U.S. Indices, ETFs
| Major Indices | Price | 1-day % chg |
| Russell 2000 | 2,101.40 | 1.5% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 21,715.48 | 1.0% |
| S&P 500 | 5,975.36 | 0.7% |
| Dow Jones | 42,509.13 | 0.5% |
According to Benzinga Pro data:
- The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) inched 0.6% higher to $596.30.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) edged 0.4% up to $425.40.
- The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) rose 0.9% to $528.05.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rallied 1.6% to $208.94.
- The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE) outperformed, up 1.7%; the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLRE) lagged, down 0.5%.
Tuesday’s Stock Movers
- Other stocks reacting to earnings included Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE:SIG), up 10% and Ferguson Enterprises Inc. (NYSE:FERG), up 14%.
- Constellation Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CEG) rose 0.8% on Tuesday, paring loftier premarket gains of nearly 15% following the announcement of a nuclear energy deal with Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META).
- Other nuclear-linked stocks also benefited, with Cameco Corp. (NYSE:CCJ), rising 3.2% and NuScale Power Corp. (NYSE:SMR), up 1.5%.
- Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) dropped 6.8% to $22.07, leading S&P 500 losses, after executives warned of weaker second-quarter shipments as retailers in the U.S. and China cut inventories amid tariff uncertainty.
Read Now: