The Dow Jones Industrial average briefly touched a record as investors rotated out of technology stocks into shares more broadly linked to improvements in the economy.
The 30-stock index inched up 10.58 points to 49,418.24.
The S&P 500 index sagged 32.72 points to 6,942.70,
The NASDAQ stumbled 239.61 points, or 1%, to 23,352.50, with Nvidia, Microsoft and software shares declining.
In the healthcare sector, Merck was up more than 3% after the pharmaceutical firm posted fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that topped estimates on strong demand for its cancer immunotherapy Keytruda and some of its other products. Merck was the biggest gainer in the Dow, up 3.5%
Pepsi earnings were also strong, fueled by improving organic sales across its business — a fact that pushed up shares about 4%.
Shares of Palantir jumped 6% after the defense tech company gave strong fourth-quarter financial results and upbeat guidance.
But most technology shares were in the red. Nvidia and Microsoft shed 2% apiece with both AI bellwethers adding to their losses for the year. Software stocks continued their 2026 rough with shares like ServiceNow off 7% and Salesforce down 5%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury stayed put Tuesday, keeping yields at Monday’s 4.28%.
Oil prices gained 53 cents to $62.67 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices popped $286.40 to $4,939 U.S. an ounce.
