NEW YORK — Mixed signals on the world economy tugged on major stock indexes Tuesday.
The country’s largest fertilizer company, Mosaic, said weak demand from China and India have hurt its profits. Mosaic, Dupont and stocks of other companies in the materials industry fell.
But utilities and health care stocks, where investors often retreat in a slow-growing economy, helped pull the Standard & Poor’s 500 index above the break-even mark.
The S&P 500 index gained 1.26 to close at 1,445.75. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 32.75 points to 13,482.36. Dupont led the Dow lower, sinking 86 cents to $49.50.
The market could remain quiet until the government gives its monthly jobs report Friday, said Paul Zemsky, chief investment officer of multiasset strategies at ING Investment Management. Economists expect the unemployment rate increased to 8.2 percent in September from 8.1 percent in August.
Zemsky said a surprise swing up or down “could change the direction of the stock market and the presidential election.”
Indexes took a turn lower at midday after Spain’s prime minister said he’s not preparing a request for a bailout loan. Traders have been anticipating the Spanish government would ask for help for nearly a month. Spain needs to ask for money from Europe’s bailout fund before the European Central Bank can start buying Spanish government bonds.
Mosaic reported net income and sales early Tuesday that fell short of analysts’ estimates. The company blamed slumping demand for its fertilizer overseas as well as hurricanes for slower production. The results pushed the company’s stock down $2.25 to $55.76.
In other trading, the Nasdaq composite rose 6.51 points to 3,120.04.
Most car makers reported better sales for September. But sales for U.S. automakers were mostly flat. General Motors reported a slight increase in sales from a year earlier, but its stock gained 3 percent after the hedge-fund manager David Einhorn recommended it. GM rose 59 cents to $23.68.
Core Logic, a private provider of real estate data, said U.S. home prices in August rose 4.6 percent compared with the same month last year. Prices also rose 0.3 percent from July, the sixth consecutive month of gains.
