By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P advanced on Tuesday, with the blue-chip index hitting a record, while another drop in Facebook shares weighed on the Nasdaq.
Dividend-paying sectors such as utilities <.SPLRCU>, up 1.4 percent and consumer staples <.SPLRCS>, up 0.6 percent were the best performing of the major S&P sectors. Facebook
The Dow was boosted by names such as Boeing
"This is really a story about dividends, old-line, blue-chip names outperforming what had previously been the market leaders," said Peter Kenny, founder, Kenny's Commentary LLC and Strategic Board Solutions LLC in New York.
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"They have been underperforming the broader market and the FANGs for quite some time and it appears as though that rotation is now taking place."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> rose 154.76 points, or 0.58 percent, to 26,805.97, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 3.5 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,928.09 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 20.26 points, or 0.25 percent, to 8,017.04.
Facebook
The NYSE FANG+TM index <.NYFANG>, an equal-weighted index of five core FANG stocks, was down 4.2 percent for September.
The smallcap Russell 2000 index <.RUT> was off 0.82 percent. Smaller names had been viewed as being more insulated to trade pressures and are now down nearly 5 percent from their Aug. 31 high.
Financials <.SPSY> were little changed, shaking off earlier losses stemming from a drop in Italian banks after a senior lawmaker in one of Italy's ruling parties said most of the country's problems would be resolved if it readopted a national currency.
"That is really a blip, it definitely doesn't bleed through to the U.S. financial infrastructure," Kenny said.
PepsiCo
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.19-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.97-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 31 new highs and 110 new lows.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Susan Thomas)
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