Stocks were rising Tuesday, with support tied to renewed hopes for U.S.-China trade talks and growing expectations the Federal Reserve will move to ease interest rates.
On Monday, the Nasdaq dropped 120.13 points, or 1.6%, to 7,333.02 to finish in correction territory, defined as an index closing at least 10% below its recent peak, which for the Nasdaq was a record finish of 8,164 hit on May 3. The Nasdaq’s Monday decline was widely blamed on heightened threats that U.S. regulators may reduce the size of tech and social-media companies like Facebook Inc. FB, +0.23% and Google-parent Alphabet Inc. GOOG, +1.71% GOOGL, +1.71% for potential violations of antitrust regulations.
Data showed U.S. factory orders fell 0.8% in April. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast a 0.9% fall. Analysts from SunTrust, BTIG and William Blair initiated coverage of the stock with buy or outperform recommendations. Shares of CVS Health Corp. CVS, +3.91% was in focus after the company said it expects its merger with health insurer Aetna will result in more than $300 million in synergies in 2019 and $800 million in 2020. The company said it would outline a series of measures at an investor day later Tuesday aimed at accelerating growth. The stock rose 3.7%.