S&P 500 Index opens modestly lower, stays within touching distance of 3,300

• Wall Street's main indexes opened little changed on Tuesday.
• Falling US Treasury bond yields weigh on financial shares.
• Defensive S&P 500 sectors trades in the positive territory.

Major equity indexes in the US opened the day near Monday's closing levels on Tuesday as investors are waiting for negotiations on the next coronavirus relief bill to conclude. As of writing, the S&P 500 Index was down 0.05% on a daily basis at 3,292, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was losing 0.08% at 26,642 and the Nasdaq Composite was virtually unchanged on the day at 10,906.

According to the latest market chatter, despite a broad agreement on the extension of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), US lawmakers are still far apart on many aspects of the relief bill. 

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Financials Index is down 0.6% on Tuesday pressured by a 5.5% drop witnessed in the 10-year US Treasury bond yield. On the other hand, defensive sectors, Real Estate, Utilities and Consumer Discretionary, trade in the positive territory to start the day.

S&P 500 chart (daily)