01:08 PM EDT, 06/04/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes slipped after midday Tuesday as a drop in government bond yields and crude oil following a steeper-than-anticipated slide in job openings weighed on risk sentiment.

The Nasdaq Composite slid 0.1% to 16,812.3 but was off its intraday session lows. Similarly, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 5,272.4, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined less than 0.1% to 38,566.7.

Over the last week, there have been three sessions where for a lot of the day's weaker economic news has meant bad news for markets rather than bad news automatically being good news due to more dovish rate expectations, Jim Reid, the head of global fundamental credit strategy at Deutsche Bank, said in a note Tuesday.

On Monday, the rates market saw a major rally after the ISM manufacturing print was noticeably weaker than expected, Reid said in the note. "That led to a fresh round of anticipation that the Fed would still cut rates this year, and it meant the 10-year Treasury yield fell for a third consecutive day to 4.39%."

By Tuesday afternoon, the US 10-year Treasury yield was down 6.6 basis points to 4.33%, and the two-year yield traded 4.8 basis points lower at 4.77%, extending declines from the previous session as macroeconomic data released earlier in the day continued to signal a weaker economy.

US job openings fell to 8.059 million in April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This compared with the 8.35 million openings expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and below the 8.355 million reported in March. The April level represents 4.8% of total employment, down from 5% in March and 6% a year earlier.

Redbook US same-store sales growth slowed to 5.8% from a year ago during the week ended June 1 from a 6.3% gain in the previous week.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 1.3% to $73.29 a barrel, extending its decline to the lowest since early February.

Further, in economic news, new orders for US factory goods rose 0.7% in April, above expectations for a 0.6% increase in a survey compiled by Bloomberg but in line with the rise in March. Excluding a 1.1% gain in transportation orders, new orders would have increased 0.7% after a 0.4% gain in March.

In company news, Bath & Body Works ( BBWI ) issued a downbeat fiscal Q2 earnings outlook on Tuesday, while the personal care and home fragrance retailer narrowed its full-year guidance. Shares slumped 12.4%, the worst performer on the S&P 500.

Jefferies was among the Wall Street brokerages to adjust their price target for Honeywell International ( HON ) , raising it to $220 from $215. This move comes as Honeywell ( HON ) raised its full-year sales and earnings guidance on Monday and completed the acquisition of Carrier Global's ( CARR ) security business for $4.95 billion. Shares of Honeywell ( HON ) rose 1.8% intraday, the top performer on the Dow.

Gold dropped 1.1% to $2,344.30 an ounce, and silver plunged 3.9% to $29.58.