NEW YORK — U.S. stock indexes are drifting lower on Tuesday in their return to trading from a three-day holiday weekend.
The S&P 500 fell 0.8% and was on track for a fourth loss in its last five days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 183 points, or 0.4%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% lower.
General Mills sank 6.8% after the company behind the Cheerios, Nature Valley and Pillsbury brands said customers are feeling less confident. It cut its forecast for an underlying measure of profit for 2026, saying declines would likely be sharper than it earlier expected.
Several surveys have recently shown weak confidence among U.S. households, which are struggling with inflation that remains high, a job market coming off a weak year of growth and worries about tariffs.
Genuine Parts, which sells auto and industrial replacement parts, said it’s “navigating a dynamic environment” while reporting weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said it plans to split into two separate, publicly traded companies in early 2027, with one focusing on auto parts and the other on industrial parts. Its stock dropped 11.5%
Helping to keep the market's losses in check was Warner Bros. Discovery. It rose 2.4% after saying it was trying to get the "best and final" buyout offer from Paramount, which is trying to top an offer to buy the entertainment company from Netflix.
Paramount Skydance rose 7.2%, while Netflix fell 1.8%.
Losses for some Big Tech stocks were the heaviest weights on the market Tuesday, including drops of 1.8% for Nvidia and 1.5% for Microsoft.
Markets need such companies, which are Wall Street's most influential, to stabilize and “need to see less sell first/ask questions later behavior from investors,” according to Sameer Samana, head of global equities and real assets at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
Last week, Wall Street shook when stocks of software and other companies tumbled as investors hunted for companies that could be potential losers if artificial-intelligence technology ends up remaking the world and their industries.
“Overall, the market is still close to records highs, but it may not feel that way to some investors because of the sharp sell-offs that seem to derail upswings almost as soon as they begin,” according to Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.
Global fund managers, meanwhile, say they're worried that companies are pouring too many dollars into AI data centers and chips. They will need to see tremendous profits and productivity come out of their billions of dollars of investments to make it worth it.
A survey of global fund managers by Bank of America found a record percentage is saying that companies are “overinvesting.”
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.04%, where it was late Friday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose modestly in Europe following a quiet day in Asia, where most markets were closed for Lunar New Year holidays.
Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.4%. Weak economic data for Japan appeared to be clouding sentiment in Tokyo, and a 5.1% decline for tech giant SoftBank Group also pulled shares lower. The decline follows a big rally after a resounding win for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's ruling party in a Feb. 8 general election.
___
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
