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S&P 500 TUCKS ITS HEAD IN AS TARIFF UNCERTAINTY STILL CIRCLES

Wall Street's main indexes ended slightly lower on Tuesday as tariff uncertainty remained high and despite gains in financial stocks after Citigroup C.N and Bank of America's BAC.N results.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday hinted at potential exemptions for the 25% tariffs imposed on imports of autos and auto parts.

The S&P 500 index .SPX hunkered down just 0.17% on the day to end at 5,396.63. A majority of SPX sectors dipped with consumer discretionary .SPLRCD taking the biggest hit. Tech .SPLRCT and financials .SPSY were among gainers.

That said, action was relatively subdued as no one sector posted an absolute change of more than 0.8%.

Under the surface, regional banks were among outperformers as the KBW regional banking index .KRX jumped 1.8%.

Mag 7 stocks .MAG ended modestly lower.

The S&P 500's high-to-low range was only 1.18% of the prior day's close. That's the smallest reading in the past 13 trading days.

This, after last Monday's session, at 8.11%, was the widest since the pandemic panic in March 2020, and last Wednesday's session, at 10.70%, was the biggest since November 2008 in the midst of the financial crisis.

Meanwhile, the CBOE market volatility index .VIX, which is now around 30.00, has essentially been cut in half since its April 7 spike to 60.13.

However, the implied volatility index is still suggesting elevated uncertainty, as the S&P 500 continues to struggle to overwhelm a number of chart hurdles around the 5,500 level.

Here is Tuesday's closing snapshot:

(Terence Gabriel) *****

FOR TUESDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

JEFFERIES CUTS RUSSELL 2000 YR-END 2025 TARGET TO 2,200 - CLICK HERE

DOLLAR DOWN, STOCKS DOWN, WHAT GIVES? - CLICK HERE

MARKET TIP: SIDESTEP STOCKS TIED TO CHINA (FOR NOW) - CLICK HERE

TWO-FER TUESDAY: IMPORT COSTS AND EMPIRE STATE - CLICK HERE

GATHERING SOME STEAM - CLICK HERE

S&P 500 INDEX: CAN IT BUILD BACK BETTER? - CLICK HERE

RECOVERING FROM PEAK TARIFF PANIC - CLICK HERE

HUMPTY DUMPTY HAS FALLEN, BUT HARD DATA DOESN'T YET SHOW IT - CLICK HERE

EUROPE INC EARNINGS: "RISKS TO THE DOWNSIDE" - CLICK HERE

BARCLAYS RECOMMENDS LONG 5-YEAR US TREASURIES - CLICK HERE

BOUNCING BACK - CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: LVMH EARNINGS WREST FOCUS FROM TARIFFS - CLICK HERE

MORNING BID: TAXES AND TARIFFS ON THE MIND AS RELIEF RALLY LIMPS ALONG - CLICK HERE