NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. stock indexes held steady in midday trading on Tuesday and tacked on a bit more to their records set a day earlier. Trading was again quiet, with only modest moves for bond yields, commodities and other markets. Stock markets were closed in Germany, China and South Korea for holidays.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 2 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,531, shortly before noon Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 77, or 0.3 percent, to 22,634, and the Nasdaq composite rose 2, or less than 0.1 percent, to 6,518. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks dipped by 5 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,505. All four indexes set a record on Monday after a reading on U.S. manufacturing growth hit its highest level in 13 years.
PAYDAY: Paychex, which offers payroll, human-resources and other services for companies, jumped to one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 after reporting stronger earnings and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock rose $2.64, or 4.4 percent, to $62.45.
REVVED UP: General Motors and Ford Motor were among the market’s leaders after each reported strong sales growth in the United States for last month. It’s a turnaround for automakers, which had seen sales drop across the industry through the year’s first eight months.
GM climbed $1.16, or 2.7 percent, to $43.31, and Ford gained 28 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $12.37.