us stocks opened modestly lower on tuesday as the stunning summer rally appeared set to pause after the sp 500 closed at its highest level in three months a day earlier the sp 500 spx shed 3 points or 01 to 4292 the dow jones industrial average gained 30 points or 01 to 33958 as the bluechip average was bolstered by strong earnings from walmart inc wmt  the nasdaq composite declined 30 02 13097 stocks have rallied sharply since hitting their lows of the year in june the sp was up more than 17 through monday from its midjune low but remains down 104 from its jan 3 record close