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NEW YORK - Sometimes a down day on Wall Street can be a good thing - especially when it shows that investors are carefully weighing their next steps.
Traders collected a few profits Tuesday, leaving the major indexes with fairly modest losses, as the market waited for key reports on the government's assessment of banks' health and the latest numbers on jobs.
But stocks held on to most of their gains from Monday, which saw the Standard & Poor's 500 index recoup the last of its losses since the beginning of the year. That advance came on hopeful signs in the housing market and extended a two-month rally that brought stocks up from 12-year lows.
Many analysts believe it's actually good for the market to pause after a big advance, particularly when Wall Street has had its best two-month performance in nearly 35 years. Tuesday's showing proved that investors aren't buying with abandon.
On Thursday, the government will release results of its stress tests on banks, and on Friday, the Labor Department issues some of the most closely watched data on the Street, its monthly tally of job losses and unemployment.
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