US stocks dip and break Wall Street's record-breaking, weeklong run

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street’s record-breaking, weeklong run ran out of momentum on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% for its first drop after closing at an all-time high in six successive days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 204 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite shaved 0.4% off its own record.

SoFi Technologies climbed 6.6%, but Merck dropped 1.7% and UPS sank 10.6% following a torrent of profit reports from big U.S. companies. They’re among the hundreds of companies telling investors this week how much they made during the spring, including nearly a third of the stocks in the S&P 500 index.

Treasury yields eased in the bond market as the Federal Reserve began a two-day meeting where they will decide what to do with short-term interest rates.

Despite angry lobbying from President Donald Trump for lower rates, which would give the economy a boost, the widespread expectation is that the Fed will wait for more data about how Trump’s tariffs are affecting inflation and the economy before making its next move.

The U.S. economy has seemed to hold up OK so far despite the pressures of tariffs, though it does appear to be slowing. One report on Tuesday said that U.S. employers were advertising fewer job openings at the end of June than a month before, though still more than economists expected. A separate report said confidence rose among U.S. consumers, but a measure of their expectations about the near term remains below the level that typically signals a recession ahead.

“Consumer confidence has stabilized since May, rebounding from April’s plunge, but remains below last year’s heady levels,” according to Stephanie Guichard, senior economist, global indicators, at The Conference Board.

Wall Street had a relatively muted reaction after China’s top trade official said that China and the United States have agreed to work on extending a deadline for new tariffs on each other. Trade officials from the world's two largest economies had been talking in Stockholm ahead of an Aug. 12 deadline, after which much higher tariffs are scheduled to resume.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, though, said that U.S. officials would head back to Washington and “talk to the president about whether that’s something that he wants to do,” meaning an extension in the pause in tariffs.

Later this week, another deadline is looming on Friday for many of Trump’s proposed tariffs on other countries. Several highly anticipated economic reports are also on the way, including the latest monthly update on the job market.

The jam-packed week could prove pivotal in determining whether the U.S. stock market can keep climbing to more records or succumb to criticism that it’s grown too expensive following its dramatic leap in recent months.

One way companies can tamp down such criticism is to deliver solid growth in profits.

That helped Cadence Design Systems, whose stock came into the day with a gain of 11.1% for the year so far. The computational software company said it’s continuing to benefit from the flood of investment into the artificial-intelligence industry, and it raised its forecast for revenue growth this year. Its stock rallied 9.7%.

But investors have also been punishing stocks of companies that have failed to meet expectations so far this reporting season.

UnitedHealth Group dropped 7.5% after reporting a profit for the spring that fell short of analysts’ expectations. It also gave a forecast for profit over all of 2025 that investors found disappointing. The health care giant said it expected to earn at least $16 per share, when analysts were looking for something close to $20, according to FactSet.

Shares of Novo Nordisk that trade in the United States tumbled 21.8% after the Danish company cut its forecast for sales growth this year, in part because of lower expectations for its Wegovy weight-loss drug amid high competition. It also named a new chief executive officer.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 18.91 points to 6,370.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 204.57 to 44,632.99, and the Nasdaq composite gave up 80.29 to 21,098.29.

In stock markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.8%, but indexes elsewhere rose across much of Asia and Europe.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped to 4.32% from 4.42% late Monday.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

Trader Steven Gohl works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Persons walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police in Ohio's capital city said Wednesday that they have gathered enough evidence to link a man charged in the double homicide of his ex-wife and her husband in their Columbus home last month to the killings.

Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said in an Associated Press interview that authorities now believe Michael David McKee, 39, a vascular surgeon who was living in Chicago, was the person seen walking down a dark alley near Monique and Spencer Tepe's home in video footage from the night of the murders. His vehicle has also been identified traveling near the house, and a firearm found in his Illinois residence also traced to evidence at the scene, she said.

An attorney representing McKee could not be identified through court listings.

His arrest Saturday capped off nearly two weeks of speculation surrounding the mysterious killings that attracted national attention. No obvious signs of forced entry were found at the Tepes’ home. Police also said no weapon was found there, and murder-suicide was not suspected. Further, nothing was stolen, and the couple’s two young children and their dog were left unharmed in the home.

“What we can tell you is that we have evidence linking the vehicle that he was driving to the crime scene. We also have evidence of him coming and going in that particular vehicle,” Bryant told the AP. “What I can also share with you is that there were multiple firearms taken from the property of McKee, and one of those firearms did match preliminarily from a NIBIN (ballistic) hit back to this actual homicide.”

Bryant said that the department wants the public to keep the tips coming. Investigators were able to follow up on every phone call, email and private tip shared from the community to the department and some of that information allowed them to gather enough evidence to make an arrest, she said.

That work culminated in the apprehension of McKee in Rockford, Illinois, where the hospital where he worked — OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center — has said it is cooperating with the investigation. He has been charged with premeditated aggravated murder in the shooting deaths. Monique Tepe, who divorced McKee in 2017, was 39. Her husband, a dentist whose absence from work that morning prompted the first call to police, was 37.

McKee waived his right to an extradition hearing on Monday during an appearance in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in Winnebago County, Illinois, where he remains in jail. Bryant said officials are working out details of his return to Ohio, with no exact arrival date set. His next hearing in Winnebago County is scheduled for Jan. 23.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said Wednesday that the city doesn't prioritize high-profile cases any more than others, noting that the city's closure rate on criminal cases exceeds the national average. The city also celebrated in 2025 its lowest level of homicides and violent crime since 2007, Ginther said.

“Every case matters. Ones that receive national attention, and those that don’t,” he told the AP. “Every family deserves closure and for folks to be held accountable, and the rest of the community deserves to be safe when dangerous people are taken off the street.”

Ginther said it is vital for central Ohioans to continue to grieve with the Tepes' family, which includes two young children, and loved ones, as they cope with “such an unimaginable loss.”

“I want our community to wrap our arms around this family and these children for years to come,” he said.

This undated booking photo provided by the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, shows Michael David McKee, who was charged in the killing of his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband Spencer Tepe at their Columbus, Ohio, home on Dec. 30, 2025. (Winnebago County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Spencer and Monique Tepe's home in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)

This image taken from video shows Michael David McKee walking into the courtroom on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Rockford, Ill. (WIFR News/Pool Photo via AP)