Tuesday's afternoon trade: stocks slightly higher as North Korea concerns ebb

US stocks rebounded from steep losses to trade slightly higher on Tuesday afternoon as investors shrugged off concerns over North Korea's latest missile test. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped more than 100 points at the open as North Korea's missile test over Japan escalated tensions with the United States and triggered a flight to safety. Trump warned "all options are on the table".
The missile, tested early on Tuesday, flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific about 735 miles off the northern region of Hokkaido, a rare occasion when North Korea fired projectiles over mainland Japan. "This (North Korea) is all sort of tangential to American corporate economy and profitability," said Stephen Massocca, senior vice president at Wedbush Securities.
"It is kind of a thin field this week, so it's not tough to move stuff around. I didn't see it as something to have a significant impact on the market and lo and behold everything has rallied back." At 12:33 pm ET (1633 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 17.27 points, or 0.08 percent, at 21,825.67 and the S&P 500 was down 1.24 points, or 0.05 percent at 2,443. The Nasdaq Composite was up 10.79 points, or 0.17 percent, at 6,293.80.