Wall Street hits pause, still near record levels; Boeing shares drag Dow

U.S. stocks paused after a four-day rally, but still hovered around record levels on Tuesday, while a fall in Boeing's shares weighed on the Dow as the crisis surrounding the planemaker's 737 MAX jet deepened.

The S&P 500 edged to a record high for the fourth straight session and was set to build on its 27% gain this year, driven mainly by expectations of a U.S.-China trade deal, a dovish Federal Reserve and upbeat economic indicators.

Reinforcing confidence in the U.S. economy, data from the Federal Reserve showed manufacturing output rose more than expected in November, as the end of a strike at General Motors plants boosted auto production.

 

However, a 1% fall in Boeing dragged on the Dow Jones The company said it would suspend production of its best-selling aircraft in January in its biggest assembly-line halt in more than two decades.

The energy sector was among the biggest gainer on the S&P 500, tracking a rise in oil prices.

Gains in all three major indexes over the last three days have largely been driven by an interim U.S.-China trade agreement, which was announced on Friday.

However, with little chance of another major update on trade before the end of the year, analysts say the market will likely stay around present levels.

"U.S. stocks could start feeling trade optimism fatigue as we near the holidays," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at online trading broker OANDA in New York, adding that a significant pullback was unlikely.

At 10:31 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 36.25 points, or 0.13%, at 28,272.14, the S&P 500 was up 4.31 points, or 0.14%, at 3,195.76 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 3.40 points, or 0.04%, at 8,817.63.

Netflix Inc rose 3.5% after the streaming service provider said its growth overseas is accelerating, on the back of its Asia-Pacific business.

Johnson & Johnson gained 0.9% after reports that Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock.

While there is no major economic news due this week, a historic vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, likely to result in the impeachment of President Donald Trump, poses another risk for investment decisions in the run-up to the 2020 election.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.54-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.05-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 33 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 85 new highs and 29 new lows.