The Dow Jones industrial average dipped as much as 135.71 points, or 0.5 percent, to 24,461.66 in early trading to give back some its 900-point Monday rally. Hardware store chain Home Depot led the blue-chip index lower with its shares dropping 2.9 percent on disappointing earnings.

The S&P 500 also fell as much as 0.4 percent at the open after posting its best day in six weeks on Monday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq eked out an early 0.2 percent gain Tuesday.

The muted movements marked a pullback from Wall Street’s enthusiasm about progress toward a COVID-19 vaccine from biotech firm Moderna. While a vaccine is key to reopening the global economy after a pandemic-induced shutdown, experts said investors’ excitement was exaggerated given the small scale of Moderna’s early trial, which had only 45 participants.

“Given the exceedingly long runway for a vaccine to be made available en masse and the short-term nature of news trading, it makes sense for some traders to fade the move based on previous disappointments,” said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at AxiCorp.

The early drop came ahead of Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s Tuesday morning testimony before the US Senate Banking Committee. Powell, who will appear with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, has recently thrown cold water on investors’ hopes for a quick recovery from the economic downturn the virus crisis has caused.

With Post Wires