US benchmark equity indexes experienced a downturn on Tuesday as markets meticulously assessed the latest corporate earnings reports, with oil prices experiencing a significant drop. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1% to 18,315.6, while both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 saw declines of 0.8%, closing at 42,740.4 and 5,815.3, respectively.
This decline marked a retreat from the previous day's record highs. Within various sectors, energy faced the most substantial drop, plummeting by 3%, whereas the real estate sector emerged as the day's leader among gainers. In company-specific news, ASML Holdings N.V. experienced a steep decline of 16% in its stock, making it the worst performer on the Nasdaq.
This drop followed the release of the company's fiscal 2025 sales outlook, which fell short of Wall Street's expectations. In an effort to ensure transparency, ASML announced it published its fiscal third-quarter results ahead of schedule after clarifying that sensitive information related to the quarter was "erroneously published" on its official website. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated adjusted its full-year earnings outlook, narrowing it amid a higher-than-anticipated impact resulting from business disruptions linked to a cybersecurity incident that occurred earlier in the year.
Consequently, the health insurer's shares suffered an 8.1% drop, marking the most significant decline on the Dow and among the worst performers on the S&P 500. On a brighter note, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. was the standout performer on the S&P 500, escalating nearly 16% after the company revealed its fiscal fourth-quarter results exceeded market expectations. In the commodities market, West Texas Intermediate crude oil faced a sharp decline of 3.9%, settling at $70.94 per barrel.
This drop occurred after reports indicated that Israel would not target Iran's oil facilities, easing some geopolitical tensions. Furthermore, the International Energy Agency has revised its global oil demand growth outlook for 2024 downward, attributing this adjustment to instabilities within China.
On the preceding Monday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) also cut its 2024 and 2025 global oil demand projections while maintaining stable supply estimates. In the bond market, the US 10-year yield decreased by 3.7 basis points to 4.04%, whereas the two-year rate rose by 1.3 basis points to 3.95%.
Last month, the Federal Reserve initiated a reduction in its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points, the first cut since March 2020, following a tightening of monetary policy from March 2022 to July 2023 aimed at controlling inflation. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly commented on this recalibration stating, "I see this (September) recalibration as 'right-sizing,' recognizing the progress we've made and loosening the policy reins a bit, but not letting go." She emphasized that even with this adjustment, the policy continues to remain restrictive, further applying downward pressure on inflation to meet the 2% target. In economic reports, the New York Fed disclosed that manufacturing activity in New York plummeted more than expected this month, sliding back into contraction territory due to a significant decrease in orders and shipments. Additionally, a survey from the regional Fed indicated a rise in US consumers' inflation expectations across three- and five-year horizons in September, while the one-year outlook stayed steady. In the precious metals sector, gold rose by 0.5%, reaching $2,678.60 per troy ounce, while silver saw a gain of 1.2%, coming in at $31.69 per ounce..