01:43 PM EDT, 04/01/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes traded mixed intraday while government bond yields fell and gold futures hit a new record high, as uncertainty continued to surround the nature of the Trump administration's upcoming reciprocal trade tariffs due Wednesday.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6% to 17,409.1, and the S&P 500 climbed 0.1% to 5,619.5 after midday on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% to 41,910.8. Communication services and consumer discretionary led the gainers intraday. Real estate and healthcare were the worst performers.

President Donald Trump may be willing to negotiate with countries over his latest tariffs, The Telegraph cited the White House as saying a day before the US president announces punitive import tariffs globally.

"The president's historic action tomorrow will improve American competitiveness in every area of industry, reduce our massive trade deficits and ultimately protect our economic and national security," Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, was cited as saying in the news report on Tuesday. "He is always up to take a phone call, always up for a good negotiation, but he is very much focused on fixing the wrongs of the past."

Meanwhile, a growing bipartisan cohort of US senators is poised to challenge the White House's justification for imposing tariffs on Canadian goods, in what could be the most significant Republican rebuke to President Donald Trump's second term, The Globe and Mail reported Tuesday.

The news report said that senators are expected to vote on Tuesday on a resolution in the Republican-controlled chamber seeking to terminate the national emergency the White House declared over illicit fentanyl flowing from Canada into the US. Sen. Susan Collins', R-Maine, office confirmed to the newspaper on Tuesday that she would support the resolution introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Monday that the tariff announcement would be at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Trump's advisers recently considered implementing tariffs of up to 20% on virtually all trading partners, while a narrower plan involving reciprocal tariffs is still on the table.

In economic news, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics said job openings fell to 7.568 million in February. The print lagged the 7.655 million expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey and was down from 7.762 million in January. The February level represents 4.5% of total employment, down from 4.7% in January and 5.1% a year earlier.

The Institute for Supply Management said its Purchasing Managers Index for manufacturing fell to 49 in March from 50.3, a touch weaker than the 49.5 consensus.

"Demand and production retreated and de-staffing continued," as companies on the panel responded to demand confusion, ISM Manufacturing Committee Chairman Timothy Fiore said. "Price growth accelerated due to tariffs, causing new order placement backlogs, supplier delivery slowdowns and manufacturing inventory growth."

Gold futures shed 0.2% to $3,145.01 after making a fresh intraday all-time high of $3,177.00.

Most US Treasury yields fell intraday, with the 10-year yield down 8.8 basis points to 4.16% and the two-year rate 4.9 basis points lower at 3.86%.

In company news, Tesla's (TSLA) sales of new units in Spain increased 34% year-over-year to 1,983 vehicles in March, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing data from Spanish industry group ANFAC. Its shares jumped 6.2% intraday, the top performer on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) shares dropped 6.1% intraday, the worst performer on the S&P 500 and the Dow, after the company said late Monday that the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas denied its subsidiary Red River Talc's request to confirm its proposed prepackaged bankruptcy plan.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures fell 0.3% to $71.29 a barrel.