U.S. stocks were mostly steady Tuesday as gains in consumer shares offset losses in utility and energy stocks. Equities ticked lower as a North Korean envoy said the country will proceed with a sixth nuclear test.

The S&P 500 was less than 0.1 percent lower to 2,397 at 4 p.m. in New York. The benchmark was little changed on Monday but still managed to close at a fresh record for the first time since early March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 37 points to 20,976 Tuesday.

• Nasdaq up 0.3%
• Consumer discretionary shares up 0.5%, led by gains in Marriott (+6.4%), Under Armour (+4.2%) and Hanesbrands (+4%)
• Financials drop 0.5% after early gains
• Utility, telecom and real estate stocks at least 0.4% lower
• 10-Year Treasury yield up 1 bp to 2.40%
• Price movers:
  • Up: Marriott, CBOE, Analog Devices, United, Jacobs Engineering all jumped more than 2 standard deviations from 20-day avg price move
  • Down: Sealed Air, Tegna, TransDigm, Dentsply, Kellogg fell more than 2 std devs from avg
• Volume in S&P 500 about 6.4% below 30-day average
  • Materials shares only group with elevated trading volume
  • Volume movers: Sealed Air, Baxter International, International Flavors & Fragrances, Tegna, Caterpillar all traded with volume at least 2x 30-day average
• VIX up to 10
  • VIX is near multi-decade lows as U.S. labor-market strength and expanding earnings continue to buoy optimism over future growth, while investor concern about the future of Europe eased following Emmanuel Macron’s presidential victory in France
  • Volatility movers: Mead Johnson, Masco Corp., WW Grainger, Cintas, Ball Corp. have highest put/call volume ratio in the S&P 500
• POLITICS:
  • North Korea’s ambassador to U.K. says it will proceed with sixth nuclear test, Sky reports; says “ready to turn to ashes any available strategic assets of the U.S.”
  • Moon Jae-in is poised to take power in South Korea as voters sought an end to nine years of conservative rule after the country’s biggest street protests since the 1980s
  • Trump’s top military advisers are urging him to send 3,000- 5,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, a White House official said
• ECONOMY:
  • Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says U.S. 3% growth target not achievable this year: Reuters interview
  • U.S. April Small Business Optimism falls to 104.5; est. 104
  • U.S. job openings rose to 5.743m in March from 5.682m prior month
  • Investors will study comments from Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari later Tuesday for any clues on the U.S. central bank’s outlook
• EARNINGS:
  • Pre-market Wednesday: Coty Inc (COTY US), Vulcan Materials Co (VMC US), Mylan NV (MYL US), Cimarex Energy Co (XEC US)