After moving notably higher over two previous sessions, stocks showed a lack of direction during trading on Tuesday. While the Dow reached a new record intraday high in early trading, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.
The major averages eventually ended the day mixed. The Dow inched up 52.27 points or 0.1 percent to 50,188.13, but the S&P 500 (SPI:SP500) fell 23.01 points or 0.3 percent to 6,941.81 and the Nasdaq slid 136.20 points or 0.6 percent to 23,102.47.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report on Wednesday.
The report, which was delayed due to the brief government shutdown last week, is expected to show employment climbed by 70,000 jobs in January after rising by 50,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.4 percent.
Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a Commerce Department report showing retail sales in the U.S. were unexpectedly flat in the month of December.
The report said retail sales came in virtually unchanged in December after climbing by 0.6 percent in November. Economists had expected retail sales to rise by 0.4 percent.
Excluding a slight dip in sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales were still virtually unchanged in December after increasing by 0.4 percent in November. Ex-auto sales were expected to grow by 0.3 percent.
“The December retail sales report shows that consumers paused their spending at the end of the holiday season after a strong spending spree in October and November,” said Nationwide Chief Economist Kathy Bostjancic.
She added, “The stagnant retail sales in December provides a soft hand-off to Q1 consumer spending, but we look for a surge in tax refunds, estimated to be $50 billion higher than last year, and the still strong wealth effect will buoy consumer spending in Q1 and support solid GDP growth.”
A separate report released by the Labor Department showed import prices in the U.S. crept up in line with estimates in the month of December.
Sector News
Housing stocks showed a substantial move to the upside amid a notable decrease by treasury yields, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 3.4 percent to a five-month closing high.
Other interest rate-sensitive stocks like utilities and commercial real estate stocks also turned in strong performances, with the Dow Jones Utility Average jumping by 1.9 percent and the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index climbing by 1.3 percent.
On the other hand, brokerage stocks moved sharply lower on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index down by 2.5 percent. The index ended the previous session at a record closing high.
Computer hardware, airline and oil service stocks also showed notable moves to the downside over the course of the session.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index surged by 2.3 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries moved notably higher after closing roughly flat for two straight sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slid 5.1 basis points to a nearly one-month closing low of 4.147 percent.
SOURCE: RTTNEWS