The end of the S&P500 and Nasdaq record streak

US stock markets began Tuesday's session similarly to the previous one, with intraday records for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. However, sentiment deteriorated afterward. This was primarily due to the large number of quarterly reports and company forecasts released this week. Tuesday was not without disappointments, including those from the three fastest-falling companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average: UnitedHealth Group (-7.35%), Boeing (-4.3%), and Merck & Co. (-1.6%). The same was true for United Parcel Service (-10.6%) and PayPal (-8.7%), which were among the S&P 500 companies with the largest declines. Procter & Gamble (-0.3%) also contributed to the deterioration in sentiment. The consumer goods giant was fueled by fears of inflation. It announced on Tuesday that it will begin raising prices starting next week, as tariffs have increased its costs by $800 million. Overall, prices will increase for 25% of the company's products.

Investors were also reluctant to buy stocks as they awaited the outcome of the Fed's monetary policy meeting, which ends on Wednesday, and the upcoming release of quarterly reports by tech blue chips. Microsoft (0.01%) and Meta Platforms (-2.5%) will follow suit after Wednesday's session, followed by Apple (-1.3%) and Amazon.com (-0.8%) the following day.

In the second half of the session, sentiment was negatively impacted by reports that, following two days of talks in Stockholm, US and Chinese representatives had only expressed a willingness to extend the trade truce, which expires on August 12th. The final decision is expected to rest with President Donald Trump. Trump, in turn, sustained the rapid rise in oil prices by announcing on Tuesday that he was giving Russia 10 days to agree on a ceasefire with Ukraine. A barrel of Brent crude oil, the leading futures contract, closed the session on the ICE by 3.5% to $72.51. Concerns about a reduction in Russian oil supply caused Brent crude oil prices to rise nearly 6% over two days, the sharpest such a short period in over six weeks.

In the S&P 500, the number of falling stocks was similar to the number of rising ones at the close of trading. However, supply prevailed in seven of the 11 main segments of the index. Industrial companies saw the sharpest declines (-1.15%), partly due to the decline in United Parcel Service, as did discretionary consumer goods suppliers (-0.75%) and healthcare companies (-0.7%). A decline in US bond yields on Tuesday supported real estate (1.7%) and utilities (1.2%), while rising oil prices supported energy stocks (1.0%).

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, 17 of the 30 companies fell. The biggest decliners were UnitedHealth Group (-7.35%), Boeing (-4.3%), and Merck & Co. (-1.6%). Travelers Cos. (1.95%), which was the biggest loser on Monday, saw the biggest gains. Coca-Cola (1.9%) and Goldman Sachs (1.2%) rounded out the top three.

Profit-taking after a series of gains that lifted the index to a record high caused 71% of nearly 3,300 companies on the Nasdaq Composite to close lower. The same was true for the blue-chip "Magnificent Seven," which reached a historic high on Monday. On Tuesday, it lost 0.7%, as only Alphabet (1.65%) and Microsoft (0.01%) remained flat. The biggest declines were recorded by shares of Meta Platforms (-2.5%), Tesla (-1.35%), and Apple (-1.3%).