Stocks Come Off Day's Lows; Nasdaq, S&P Up Marginally

(RTTNews) - U.S. stocks remain mostly weak Tuesday afternoon despite coming off earlier lows amid volatility as worries about global growth and fears of a potential recession in U.S. weigh on sentiment.

Stocks tumbled mid-session as trade war concerns have escalated with the U.S. and Canada slapping tariffs on each other's goods.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports, saying that the 50 percent tariff is in retaliation for Ontario imposing a 25 percent surcharge on electricity exported to U.S. states. Trump also threatened to impose higher tariffs on Canadian car imports.

The major averages all declined sharply earlier in the session. The Nasdaq, however, has recovered pretty well and is up marginally in positive territory.

The Dow was down 231.33 points or 0.53 percent at 41,680.38, well off the session's low of 41,175.37. The S&P 500 has recovered to 5,620.54, gaining 5.98 points or 0.11 percent, rallying from a low of 5,528.41.

The Nasdaq, which dropped to 17,238.24 earlier this afternoon, was up 81.53 points or 0.47 percent at 17,549.85 a little while ago,

Delta Air Lines, Verizon, American Airlines, Moderna, AT&T, Apple Inc., Oracle, Colgate-Palmolive, Nike and IBM are down 2.5 to 7 percent.

Visa, Accenture, Chevron, JP Morgan, Mastercard, Caterpillar and Alphabet are also notably lower.

Southwest Airlines is soaring nearly 9 percent. Tesla is gaining about 6 percent. Boeing, Nvidia, Micron Technology, Salesforce, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Wells Fargo, AMD and United Health are also up with strong gains.

In economic news, a report released by the Labor Department showed job openings in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of January.

The Labor Department said job openings climbed to 7.74 million in January from a downwardly revised 7.51 million in December.

Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 7.63 million from the 7.60 million originally reported for the previous month.

Markets now await U.S. reports on consumer and producer price inflation, as well as readings on consumer sentiment and inflation expectations this week for further direction.

Meanwhile, investors now expect the Fed to cut interest rates by 88 basis points this year, compared to earlier expectations for 75 basis points cut, according to LSEG data.