Stocks are slipping in Wall Street's first trading after a five-week rally carried it to its highest level since the spring of last year. The S&P 500 was 0.3% lower in early trading Tuesday. The Dow was off 156 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite edged down 0.1%. The U.S. stock market is taking a breather after rising on hopes the economy can avoid a recession and inflation is easing enough for the Federal Reserve to stop raising interest rates soon. A frenzy around artificial intelligence has also vaulted a select group of tech stocks to huge gains.
