Nasdaq, S&P 500 post record closing highs; investors await more data

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The S&P 500 and Nasdaq eked out record closing highs on Tuesday, with tech-related shares extending recent gains as investors awaited further jobs data.

The Dow finished slightly lower.

Marketwatchers also digested reassuring comments from Federal Reserve policymakers. Two policymakers said they see inflation heading down to the U.S. central bank's 2% target and that the job market is "solid."

They stayed away from signaling whether they would support another interest rate cut later this month. On Monday, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he was inclined "at present" to support another rate cut this month.

Investors will pay close attention to the U.S. monthly employment report on Friday. They also are keen to see other data this week, including a November reading of private payrolls and the Institute for Supply Management's services report.

"The market is kind of waiting for the big data, which would be ISM and the (employment report) on Friday ... so people are sitting on their hands a little bit," said Paul Nolte, senior wealth advisor and market strategist for Murphy & Sylvest in Elmhurst, Illinois.

A report on Tuesday showed U.S. job openings increased solidly in October while layoffs dropped by the most in 1-1/2 years.

Financial markets expect a roughly 72% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut at the Fed's Dec. 17-18 policy meeting, CME Group's FedWatch tool showed.

Shares of Amazon rose. The company announced a new slate of artificial intelligence platforms, known as foundation models, at its annual AWS conference.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 76.47 points, or 0.17%, to 44,705.53, the S&P 500 gained 2.73 points, or 0.05%, to 6,049.88 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 76.96 points, or 0.40%, to 19,480.91.

The S&P 500 advanced 5.7% in November as former U.S. President Donald Trump recaptured the White House in the Nov. 5 election and his Republican Party swept both houses of Congress. The index is up roughly 27% for the year to date.

"This is a market that has performed extremely well. You want it to pause, take a breather and wait for another catalyst to push it higher," said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist, LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.

U.S.-listed shares of South Korean companies declined, with iShares MSCI South Korea ETF easing. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would move to lift a martial law declaration he had imposed just hours before.

Shares of Tesla eased after data showed the automaker's sales of China-made electric vehicles fell 4.3% year-on-year to 78,856 in November.

(Additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Richard Chang)