Tuesday's relatively muted action in markets follows losses on Monday when Trump posted a flurry of letters to social media that announced new tariff rates ranging from 25% to 40% on more than a dozen countries starting August 1.

The Nasdaq composite held up the best among the major indexes, but wavered and was up just 0.2% in recent trades. The S&P 500 also wavered and edged into positive ground after falling 0.8% Monday. Small caps outpaced the market, with the Russell 2000 index lifting 0.5% higher. The Russell ended a six-day winning streak Monday.