Stocks lower as travel companies, banks take losses

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are mostly lower Tuesday as travel companies, retailers and banks take losses. Travel booking sites Priceline and TripAdvisor are taking steep losses following their third-quarter reports. Companies that pay big dividends, including utilities, are making gains. Oil prices are down slightly after they jumped to two-year highs a day ago.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was unchanged at 2,591 as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 13 points, or 0.1 percent, to 23,535. The Nasdaq composite lost 13 points, or 0.2 percent, to 6,773. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 13 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,484 as investors continued to watch for signs of progress by House Republicans on their proposed tax cuts. Investors feel smaller and more U.S.-focused companies could benefit the most from a corporate tax cut.

The S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq have closed at record highs the last two sessions.