U.S. Stocks Fall Amid Broad Losses

The S&P 500 fell Tuesday, as broad losses across sectors offset gains in energy stocks.

Major indexes traded in a narrow range in the afternoon, coming off the lows they hit earlier in the session.

Stocks had dropped after Donald Trump Jr. released emails about meeting with a Russian lawyer to discuss allegedly incriminating information about Hillary Clinton, traders said. But by afternoon, stocks retraced much of their losses -- leaving the S&P 500 on track to close slightly lower for the day.

Many investors and analysts say they have pared their expectations for the stock market's gains the rest of the year. Stock valuations are at higher-than-average levels and central banks are signaling they will move toward normalizing monetary policy.

That leaves the stock market vulnerable to a pullback, should earnings growth stall out, investors say.

"Earnings are good right now -- the question is are they going to be good in 2018," said Doug Foreman, chief investment officer of Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9 points, or less than 0.1%, to 21398, after losing roughly 129 points earlier in the session. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite edged down less than 0.1%.

Energy stocks rose with oil prices on Tuesday, one of the few sectors in the S&P 500 to post gains. The S&P 500 energy sector added 0.6%, while U.S. crude oil rose 0.8% to $44.77 a barrel on Tuesday.

Snap shares extended declines from Monday, when it fell below its initial public offering price for the first time. The Snapchat parent's stock slid 7.9% on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley -- one of the underwriters for Snap's IPO -- downgraded the company and lowered its price target.

Government bonds edged higher, with the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note falling to at 2.362%, according to Tradeweb, compared with 2.371% Monday. Yields fall as bond prices rise.

"There has a been a marked shift in the language from central banks," said Ryan Myerberg, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson. "We can see the powerful force keeping rates so low for so long is being unwound, but what it means for the near term is up for debate," he said, adding coming inflation readings, including Friday's U.S. consumer prices data, will be key for the direction of yields.

Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.4%, weighed down by declines in shares of U.K. companies.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.6% as a weaker yen, which benefits export-oriented stocks, provided support. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.5%.

Write to Riva Gold at riva.gold@wsj.com and Akane Otani at akane.otani@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 11, 2017 14:01 ET (18:01 GMT)