(The Closing Bell will be updated sometime after 4:00 PM CDST to include the latest updates from IBD and Bloomberg Evening Briefing.)
FYI: U.S. stocks fell Tuesday, as investors weighed commentary from Federal Reserve officials and shares of technology companies slumped.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 179 points, or 0.67%, to 26548. The S&P 500 declined 0.95% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.51%. Stock declines deepened after comments from Fed officials about the case for lowering short-term interest rates.
Major indexes drifted along in a narrow range to start the trading day, then lost ground after James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis—who is known for his vocal opposition to interest-rate increases—said he believed it was too early for a 50-basis-point rate cut.
Later Tuesday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powellweighed in on the debate, saying that while many Fed officials find the case for somewhat more accommodative policy has strengthened, “we are mindful that monetary policy should not overreact to any individual data point or short-term swing in sentiment.”
Following Mr. Powell’s comments, stocks fell further. The yield on the 10-year Treasury had fallen as low as 1.982% earlier Tuesday, but climbed back above 2% in recent trading.
Technology shares lagged behind major indexes Tuesday, with Facebook falling 1.6% amid scrutiny over its plan to roll out its own cryptocurrency, Libra. Lawmakers said on Monday they would hold a hearing next month to discuss the cryptocurrency.
Other companies whose privacy practices have lately come under fire among regulators retreated, with Alphabet down 2% and Amazon.com down 1.4%.
Meanwhile, Allergan shares jumped 27% after rival drugmaker AbbVie said it would buy the company for more than $60 billion. AbbVie slipped 16%.
Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 edged down 0.1%, weighed down by losses among bank stocks.
In commodities, gold jumped 0.6%, extending a rally that has propelled prices to their highest level since 2013.
Gold prices have been lifted by “a positive cocktail of factors,” from lingering global-growth worries and U.S.-China trade tensions to escalating fears of a conflict between the U.S. and Iran, said Carsten Menke, a commodities analyst at Julius Baer.
“If you take everything together you have quite a bullish environment for gold. Then you have technical levels which have been broken like $1,380 or $1,400 and that’s why we’ve had such a sharp rally,” he said.
Earlier, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.4%, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.9% and snapped a six-session winning streak.
Regards,
Ted
Bloomberg Evening:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-25/your-evening-briefingMarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-index-futures-lower-ahead-of-fed-speakers-including-powell-2019-06-25/printWSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-treasury-yields-slip-11561449091Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-24/asian-stocks-set-to-drift-treasury-yields-drop-markets-wrap?srnd=premiumIBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/stock-indexes-test-new-areas-await-fed-chiefs-speech/CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/25/stock-market-wall-street-in-focus-as-investors-await-more-fed-talk.htmlReuters:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks/wall-st-dragged-down-by-iran-tensions-trade-worries-fed-in-focus-idUSKCN1TQ1EQU.K:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-stocks/ftse-100-drops-on-iran-sanctions-exacerbate-trade-jitters-idUKKCN1TQ0MZEurope:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-stocks/capgemini-deal-soothes-nervy-european-markets-idUSKCN1TQ0OFAsia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-inch-down-ahead-of-trump-xi-meeting-at-g-20-2019-06-24/printBonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/25/us-treasury-yields-lower-ahead-of-powells-speech.htmlCurrencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/25/forex-market-the-fed-us-china-trade-war-in-focus.htmlOil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/25/oil-market-us-iran-tensions-us-china-trade-talks-in-focus.htmlGold:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/25/gold-surges-to-a-6-year-high.htmlWSJ: Markets At A Glance:
https://markets.wsj.com/usMajor ETFs % Change:
https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/etf-monitorSPDR's Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-trackerSPDR's Bloomberg Sector Performance Pie Chart:
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/sectorsCurrent Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx 
