01:04 PM EDT, 10/29/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes traded mixed ahead of Big-Tech earnings post-bell and after a surprise drop in job openings pushed government bond yields higher.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 5,829.4 after midday Tuesday, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.4% to 18,640.7. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% to 42,279.8. Utilities and energy led the decliners intraday. Communication services and technology were among a trio of gainers.

Quarterly earnings from mega-caps such as Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) are due after the bell on Tuesday, followed by Apple ( AAPL ) , Microsoft ( MSFT ) , Amazon.com ( AMZN ) , and Meta Platforms ( META ) in the rest of this week.

US job openings fell to 7.443 million in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday. The print is below the 8 million expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and 7.861 million reported in August. The September level represents 4.5% of total employment, down from 4.7% in August and below the 5.6% rate a year earlier.

Most US Treasury yields rose intraday, with the 10-year up 4.6 basis points to 4.32%, its highest since early July. The two-year yield rose 1.2 basis points to 4.15% but still hovered near its strongest since early August.

Further, in economic news, the Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence rose to 108.7 in October from 99.2 in September, above the 99.5 expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. "Consumer confidence recorded the strongest monthly gain since March 2021, but still did not break free of the narrow range that has prevailed over the past two years," said Dana Peterson, Chief Economist at The Conference Board.

The Dallas Federal Reserve's monthly general business services index rebounded to 2.0 in October from minus 2.6 in September, indicating a return to expansion. The index is in line with the Philadelphia Fed, Kansas City, Richmond Fed, and the S&P Global flash indexes but in contrast with the New York Fed measure's signal for contraction.

In company news, Cadence Design Systems ( CDNS ) jumped 12% intraday, the top performer in the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results.

The worst performer on the index was D.R. Horton ( DHI ) , down 9.5% intraday after the company reported a year-over-year decline in fiscal Q4 net income and revenue. Its sales guidance for fiscal 2025 also missed market expectations.

PayPal's ( PYPL ) Q3 revenue grew less than forecast, and while earnings growth outpaced analysts' views, the payment company's shares were still down 4.1% intraday, the steepest decliner on the Nasdaq.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil slipped 0.4% to $67.12 a barrel.

Gold rose 0.9% to $2,781.11 an ounce, while silver jumped 1.5% to $34.51 an ounce.