S&P 500 is little changed as Wall Street tries to build on Monday’s rally

The S&P 500 was relatively unchanged on Tuesday as the index attempted to add to the strong gains seen in the previous session.

The broad market index traded around the flatline, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 74 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.5%.

The major averages all rose more than 1% on Monday after President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that the U.S. and Iran have held “very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.” Iranian state media reported that there were no direct talks between the two countries, however.

In the leadup to Trump’s announcement, the U.S. did engage with Iran in a series of closed-door discussions through Middle Eastern intermediaries, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter. That said, the report stated that there was some doubt expressed privately by Arab mediators at the prospect of the two countries quickly reaching an agreement, as both sides were still far apart.

On Wall Street, confusion has grown among investors over how effective the talks to end the war were, given that Israel and Iran have since continued to exchange strikes in the wake of the president’s Monday comments, per Israeli authorities. The Pentagon is also reportedly planning to deploy around 3,000 soldiers to the Middle East, though the U.S. has not made a decision to put boots on the ground in Iran.