U.S. Stocks Come Off Day's Lows, But Still Close On Weak Note

(RTTNews) - U.S. stocks closed on a negative note on Tuesday after a highly volatile session, and the major averages all closed in the red despite a good recovery past mid afternoon.

Worries about global economic outlook, and fears of a possible recession in the U.S., due to the trade war, hurt investor sentiment.

The Dow settled lower by 478.23 points or 1.14 percent, at 41,433.48, after scaling a low of 41,175.37 and a high of 41,868.27 in the session.

The S&P 500 ended down 42.49 points or 0.76 percent, at 5,572.07, while the Nasdaq settled lower by 32.23 points or 0.18 percent, at 17,436.10. The Nasdaq climbed to 17,687.40 in the final hour, rallying from a low of 17,238.24.

U.S. President Donald Trump said that he was reconsidering plans to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50%. Canada, which had earlier said it would impose tariffs on electricity exports to the U.S., agreed to suspend the 25% hike after agreeing to meet on Thursday to discuss a pathway to renew the new North American trade agreement.

Meanwhile, a senior White House official has said the higher tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. will not become effective tomorrow.

The change in stance resulted in a recovery in the final hour, but the market still ended on a weak note.

Delta Air Line shares dropped more than 7 percent following a profit warning by the company. American Airlines ended more than 8% down.

Verizon, Moderna, ResMed, Texas Instruments, IBM, Apple, Oracle and Chevron also declined sharply.

Southwest Airlines soared 8 percent, after the airline said it would launch a new basis fare tire.

Tesla climbed up sharply, gaining more than 3%, Boeing, Netflix, Micron Technology, Salesforce, Wells Fargo and Amazon also closed notably higher.

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.