US: Oil shares sag as S&P 500 ends at another record

[NEW YORK] Petroleum-linked shares tumbled with oil prices on Tuesday as Wall Street stocks finished a choppy session higher, with the S&P 500 at a second straight record.

Dow members ExxonMobil and Chevron shed more than one per cent and midsized companies Marathon Oil and Devon closer to five per cent after an oil-production agreement at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to allay concerns about oversupply.

Countering that dynamic was continued positive momentum after the United States and China agreed over the weekend to hold off on additional hostilities in their trade war.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.3 per cent at 26,786.68.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.3 per cent to 2,973.01, pushing to a second straight record, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2 per cent to 8,109.09.

The mild gains come ahead of Wednesday's report on June private-sector hiring, which will be followed on Friday by the more closely-watched government employment report.

In between those two events, markets will be closed for the Independence Day holiday, which is expected to dent trading volumes all week.

Among other companies reporting results, Delta Air Lines advanced 1.3 per cent after the company projected second-quarter profits on the high end of its prior range and described consumer demand as strong.

US shares of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles gained 0.7 per cent after it reported higher US auto sales in June, unlike other automakers. General Motors, which reported a drop in the second quarter, fell 1.1 per cent.

Chip companies gave back some of their gains after rallying on Monday due to the US-China trade detente. Micron Technology lost 1.3 per cent and Nvidia fell 2.4 per cent.

AFP