Stocks Mostly Drift Lower

U.S. stocks ended mostly lower on Tuesday even as reports showed the economy gaining strength. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 30.89 points, or 0.18%, to 17,067.56. The Standard & Poor’s 500 slipped 1.09 points, or 0.05%, to 2,002.28. The Nasdaq rose 17.92 points, or 0.39%, to 4,598.19

The Institute for Supply Management on Tuesday said its manufacturing index jumped to 59% in August from 57.1% in July. That marked the second big gain in a row and pushed the gauge to its highest level since early 2011.

Construction spending jumped a seasonally adjusted 1.8% in July, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

Home Depot may be the latest retailer to have suffered a massive credit card breach, the company confirmed on Tuesday, after a website reported that a large cache of stolen data had appeared on black market sites.

The battle for Family Dollar Stores Inc. escalated on Tuesday, as Dollar General Corp. raised its bid for the second-biggest
U.S. dollar-retail chain to $80 a share and took steps to help allay antitrust concerns.