Choppy trading on Wall Street as Pelosi visits Taiwan

Aug 2 (Reuters) – Wall Street was mixed in choppy trading on Tuesday, with geopolitical tensions flaring after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.

Pelosi said her trip demonstrated US solidarity with the Chinese self-ruled island, but China condemned the first visit in 25 years as a threat to peace and stability. read more

Shares of chipmakers heavily exposed to China traded broadly higher, recovering from early declines. Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD.O ) rose around 3% ahead of its quarterly report after hours.

Industrial watch Caterpillar ( CAT.N ) fell nearly 5% after warning of a bigger drop in demand for excavators in property crisis-hit China, causing more pain to the industrial watch struggling with supply chain disruptions.

Financial markets have also been disrupted by the war in Ukraine, rising inflation and tighter financial conditions.

US job vacancies fell by the most in just over two years in June as demand for workers eased in the retail and wholesale industries. Overall, the labor market remained tight. read more

After the Fed raised interest rates by 75 basis points in July, investors have speculated whether the central bank’s biggest increases are behind them.

“The market has to get very comfortable that they’ve completed all of the Fed’s rate hikes, and I think that’s still an open question,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management in Seattle. “The challenges and supply constraints aren’t necessarily done. They’re not done and gone yet.”

Shares of U.S. defense companies Raytheon Technologies Corp ( RTX.N ), Lockheed Martin Corp ( LMT.N ), Northrop Grumman Corp ( NOC.N ) and L3Harris Technologies Inc ( LHX.N ) rose between 1% and 3%. The United States is Taiwan’s main supporter and arms supplier. read more

In afternoon trade, the S&P 500 was down 0.13% at 4,113.41 points.

The Nasdaq rose 0.29% to 12,404.69 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.70% to 32,569.39 points.

The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX), also known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, fell from the day’s high of 24.68 points. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index (.SOX) rebounded from losses to rally about 0.6%.

A largely upbeat second-quarter reporting season has supported markets recently, with the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) up approx. 12% from the lowest level in mid-June.

Uber Technologies Inc ( UBER.N ) jumped 18% after the company reported positive quarterly cash flow for the first time and forecast a positive operating result for the third quarter. read more

Tesla Inc ( TSLA.O ) gained 2.7% after Citigroup raised its price target on the electric car maker’s shares.

Pinterest Inc ( PINS.N ) surged nearly 13% after activist investor Elliott Investment Management became the largest shareholder in the digital pin-board firm. read more

Across the US stock market ( .AD.US ), rising stocks outnumbered falling stocks by a ratio of 1.0 to one.

S&P 500 posted 2 new highs and 30 new lows; The Nasdaq recorded 37 new highs and 61 new lows.

Reporting by Aniruddha Ghosh and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva, Arun Koyyur and David Gregorio

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