Stock market live Tuesday: Stocks give up gains, tech drags down market, silver plunges 14%

• S&P 500 closed down 0.80% for its first negative day in eight
• S&P 500 is 1.76% below its intraday all-time high of 3,393.52 from Feb. 19
• Nine out of 11 sectors were negative Tuesday led by utilities down 2.12% 
• Dow closed down 0.36% for its first negative day in eight
• On an intraday basis the Dow crossed 28,000 for the first time since Feb. 25 but failed to close above that level
• Dow is 6.36% below its intraday all-time high of 29,568.57 from Feb. 12
• Nasdaq closed down 1.69% for its third straight negative day
• Nasdaq is up 20.17% year to date. — Gina Francolla

The Dow and S&P 500 gave up earlier gains in the final hour of trading, losing 0.4% and 0.8%, respectively. The reversal snapped a seven-day winning streak for both indexes. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lagged the other indexes, falling 1.7%. — Jesse Pound

After spending most of the session within striking distance of a record high, the S&P 500 reversed course and turned negative. Shares of Amazon, Microsoft and Apple have all lost at least 1.5% for the day, dragging the index to a 0.5% dip. The Dow also gave up its gains to trade near the flat line. — Jesse Pound 

Silver took a huge beating on Tuesday after nine straight weeks of gains amid a spike in yields and a risk-on market. The metal plunged about 14% to around $25.24 per ounce, suffering its biggest daily decline since October 2008. 

"The precious metals complex, which posted a spectacular performance over the summer, was driven by a drop in rates, a steady increase in inflation expectations and a falling USD," Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities, said in a note. "The rally is now giving up some of these gains as these drivers lose momentum."

Gold also dropped 5.5% on Tuesday, hitting a low of $1,921.2 per ounce — its lowest level since July 28. 

"Specs and CTAs are reducing their gold and silver exposure, as volatility trends higher and as they take profits out of a crowded trade. The rapid rate of ETF gold and silver purchases, which have been a key driver for the summer rally, are also losing momentum," Melek added. — Yun Li

The S&P 500 inched closer to its late-February record on Tuesday, but a decline in tech shares kept the broader market index's gains in check. With roughly one hour left in the session, the S&P 500 was up 0.2%. The Dow traded 180 points higher, or 0.6%. The Nasdaq Composite, however, slid 0.6%. —Fred Imbert

Shares of Apple were lower in late-day trading as China smartphone shipments declined 35% year-over-year for the third straight month. The data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology was "surprising, especially as it comes out on the same day as China's retail car sales reported +6% y/y growth" according to Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani. "The large decline in a month where most were expecting an improved rate of change is likely contributing to AAPL's modest underperformance today," he said.  The firm kept its overweight rating on the stock. Shares were down almost 2%. — Michael Bloom

SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, have boomed in popularity on Wall Street this year as a backdoor way for companies to go public. There have been 67 SPAC offerings globally raising a record $23.9 billion this year, making up nearly a fifth of the total funds raised through initial public offerings which tallied $115.9 billion, according to Refinitiv. Of the 67 global offerings, 61 are U.S.-listed.

A SPAC is a blank-check company formed to raise funds to finance a merger or acquisition within a certain time frame, typically two years. The target firm will be taken public through the acquisition. Companies have shied away from the traditional IPO market roiled by the coronavirus pandemic and wild volatility. Nikola and DraftKings both went the SPAC route to be listed on exchanges.— Yun Li

Shares of Qualcomm moved sharply higher after an appellate court ruled in the company's favor and vacated an antitrust ruling. The Federal Trade Commission had accused the company of "anticompetitive practices" related to wireless technology. The stock has gained about 4% for the day. — Jesse Pound

Airbnb plans to file confidentially for an initial public offering later this month, CNBC's Deirdre Bosa confirmed. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the plans. Many expected the vacation rental company to go public this year before the pandemic slowed travel significantly. Airbnb declined to comment. — Jesse Pound

Though much of the stock market's largest consumer technology companies began the day in the red, some had started to recover by midday trading. Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet — all of which opened lower — rose 0.6%, 0.1% and 0.5% by 12:30 p.m. ET. Those gains helped the broader Nasdaq Composite reverse its own decline to trade just above the flatline.

Still, the recent uptick in Big Tech wasn't unanimous. Netflix, Microsoft and Apple all traded lower despite paring losses. — Thomas Franck

Boeing announced Tuesday that customers canceled 43 orders of the manufacturer's troubled 737 Max in July while there were no new orders for any of the company's planes. This marked the sixth straight month of negative net orders for the aerospace giant. The stock fell from its highs of the day after the data was released but has still risen 3.9% for the session. — Leslie Josephs, Jesse Pound

The Dow and S&P 500 were both higher around midday as expectations for a coronavirus vaccine led investors out of big tech stocks and into names that would benefit from the economy reopening. The Dow traded 258 points higher, or 0.9%. The S&P 500 advanced 0.4%. The Nasdaq, however, struggled and dipped 0.1%. —Fred Imbert

Foot Locker preannounced on Monday that it anticipated better-than-expected earnings when the company reports quarterly results on Aug. 21, and that portends well for Dick's, analysts say. "As we have continued to monitor myriad consumer-related data points, we have highlighted sporting goods and athleisure as areas positioned well to perform through and beyond COVID-19 headwinds," Oppenheimer analyst Brian Nagel said. Susquehanna analyst Sam Poser also said that Foot Locker's preannouncement is a prequel "for very strong 2Q20 results from DKS, which are scheduled for August 26." Oppenheimer has an outperform rating on Dick's while Susquehanna has a positive rating. Shares of Dick's are up 4% this week. — Michael Bloom

Analysts at Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo raised their price targets on Tuesday morning on the home improvement retailers ahead of the company's earnings report next week. Home Depot reports on August 18 while Lowe's goes on August 19.

"Following favorable store visits, category checks & industry reads, we're constructive on HD/LOW into Q2, modeling above-consensus comps and outsized EPS beats," Wells Fargo analyst Zachary Fadem said. The firm upped its target on Home Depot to $300 from $295 and on Lowe's to $180 from $165.

The sentiment was similar at Morgan Stanley. "LOW remains one of our top OW picks as the margin transformation is being accelerated by COVID-19," analyst Simeon Gutman said. The firm took its price target on Lowe's to $160 from $150 and on Home Depot to $285 from $260.  Shares of both companies are up almost 1% in early trading. — Michael Bloom

Early trading Tuesday morning pushed the broad S&P 500 even closer to a new record high. Its opening advance of 0.35% put the index 0.68% below its all-time high of 3,393.52 hit on Feb. 19.

Investors have for months wondered whether the benchmark index would even come close to all-time highs in 2020 after its dramatic Covid-induced selloff back in March. That plunge sent the S&P 500 down more than 30% and ended the longest U.S. bull market in modern history.

But the index has little-by-little clawed its way back from a bear market. It climbed 20% in the second quarter, one of its best on record, as Big Tech stocks like Netflix and Amazon outperformed as Americans quarantined at home. More recently, however, economically sensitive stocks like industrials, energy and financials have generated most of the S&P 500's gains. The index is up 8.77% in the third quarter, which began July 1.

Renewed hopes over the state and progress of the U.S. economy have sent Dow stocks like Caterpillar, Raytheon and JPMorgan Chase higher while Big Tech stocks have lagged. Raytheon and Caterpillar are up 13.7% and 10.4% over the last week while Amazon and Facebook are down 1.3% and up 3.3%, respectively. — Thomas Franck

Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 opened higher on Tuesday as cyclical stocks continued to lead the broader U.S. market higher. Dow industrials advanced 300 points, or 1.1%, while the S&P 500 added a more modest 0.5%.

Boeing and JPMorgan Chase were among the best performing names in the Dow shortly after the opening bell.

The Nasdaq Composite continued to lag its peers and traded down 0.4% after months of outperformance versus the Dow and S&P. Big Tech names including Facebook, Apple and Amazon all traded lower by at least 1%. — Thomas Franck

Oil prices moved higher on Tuesday, boosted by demand recovery in Asia, as well as continued hopes that U.S. lawmakers will pass another relief package.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. oil benchmark, rose 2.27% to trade as high as $42.89 per barrel, and was on pace to settle above its 200-day moving average for the first time since Jan. 21. International benchmark Brent crude gained 58 cents, or 1.27%, to trade at $45.56 per barrel.

"Positive comments about recovering demand in Asia were made by Aramco yesterday, bolstering confidence that demand is on the right track ... in the region," said Bjornar Tonhaugen, head of oil markets at Rystad Energy.

However, he noted that caution is still warranted. "A batch of good indications will always help the bulls, but seeing the bigger picture it may make much more sense to expect a slow recovery, not only in oil demand, but also in prices," he added. - Pippa Stevens

• RBC downgraded Honeywell to sector perform from outperform.
• Atlantic Equities downgraded Travelers to neutral from overweight.
• Berenberg downgraded Zynga to hold from buy.
• Citi raised its price target on Livongo Health to $170 from $125.

Pro Subscribers read more here. — Michael Bloom

Shares of the major U.S. airlines rose in premarket trading on Tuesday on hopes of a second bailout to the ailing industry. Their equity also traded higher after the number of people passing through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at U.S. airports rose for a second consecutive week. Some 831,789 people on Sunday alone passed through the checkpoints, the highest level since March 17.

Airlines are hoping the uptick in travel will give lawmakers more reason to help the recovery of the industry. Shares of Delta Air Lines jumped 4.7% in premakret trading. American Airlines and United Airlines rose 6.8% and 5.8%, respectively. Southwest ticked up 4.2% and Alaska Air Group gained 3.7%. — Maggie Fitzgerald 

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the country has registered a Covid-19 vaccine, which has yet to undergo a large-scale trial. Data from smaller studies has not been published. Putin also said that his daughter has taken the vaccine. Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told "Squawk Box" that he would not take the vaccine outside of a clinical trial. — Jesse Pound, Holly Ellyatt

U.S. stock futures rose in premarket trading Tuesday morning, promising to add to the Dow Jones Industrial Average's rally from the prior session and push the S&P 500 even closer to a new record. Dow futures rose 277 points about two hours before the opening bell, implying an opening climb of about 1%. 

The S&P 500, which closed less than 1% away from an all-time high on Monday, was also poised to gain by the opening bell. S&P futures rose 0.5% and implied an opening gain of about 0.5%. The Nasdaq-100 futures, the relative laggards, advanced a more modest 0.15%.

The optimism on Tuesday came after local news agencies reported Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the country had given regulatory approval for the world's first Covid-19 vaccine. — Thomas Franck