Stocks struggled in Tuesday's trading, and benchmark indexes edged lower from record highs after consumer confidence weakened.

The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite declined slightly as investors reviewed the latest update on consumer confidence. 

The consumer confidence index decreased to 98.7 in September from the upwardly revised 105.6 in August, the largest decrease since August 2021, The Conference Board said in a report Tuesday. 

“Consumers’ assessments of current business conditions turned negative while views of the current labor market situation softened further. 

Consumers were also more pessimistic about future labor market conditions and less positive about future business conditions and future income,” Dana Peterson, Conference Board's chief economist, said in a statement.

China-linked stocks advanced between 3% and 7% after the People's Bank of China announced several measures ahead of the holiday week to revive faltering economic growth and property markets. 

JD.com, Alibaba Group, Baidu, Tencent Holdings, and Yum China jumped in New York trading. 

U.S. Indexes and Treasury Yields

The S&P 500 index increased 0.02% to 5,721.72, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.1% to 17,9996.99, and the Russell 2000 index rose 0.1% to 2,221.38. 

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes edged lower to 3.57%, 10-year Treasury notes inched up to 3.75%, and 30-year Treasury bonds inched higher to 4.11%.

WTI crude oil increased $1.03 to $71.40 a barrel, and natural gas prices edged down 0.1 cent to $2.60 a thermal unit.

Gold rose by $13.48 to $2,640.88 an ounce, and silver increased by $0.40 to $31.05.

The dollar index, which weighs the US currency against a basket of foreign currencies, edged higher to 100.54.

U.S. Stock Movers

Snowflake declined 0.5% to $112.67 after the cloud data management company announced its plans to raise $2 billion through a convertible bond offering. 

AAR Corp. decreased 3.8% to $66.33 despite the aviation services provider reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. 

The company said revenue in the fiscal first quarter ending in August increased 20% to $661.7 million from $448.4 million, net income swung to a profit of $18 million from a loss of $0.6 million, and diluted earnings per share were 50 cents compared to a loss of 2 cents a year earlier. 

Caterpillar jumped 3.8% to $385.08 after the People's Bank of China announced several stimulus measures to revive the faltering economic growth and support investor confidence.