WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks continue to show a lack of direction in mid-day trading on Thursday, extending the lackluster performance seen earlier in the session. The major averages have spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.
The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders seem reluctant to make any significant move ahead of the long weekend.
Uncertainty about the situation in Ukraine as well as the outlook for the remainder of earnings season is likely helping to keep traders on the sidelines.
A mixed reaction to the latest batch of earnings news is also contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets.
While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves, significant strength has emerged among semiconductor stocks. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is advancing by 1.6 percent, climbing further off the one-month closing low that it set last Friday.
SanDisk (SNDK) has helped to lead the semiconductor sector higher, with the chipmaker surging up by 9.7 percent after reporting better than expected first quarter earnings.
Natural gas, brokerage, and networking stocks are also seeing some strength on the day, while weakness is visible among utilities, airline, and software stocks.
Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. While the Dow is down 20.72 points or 0.1 percent at 16,404.13, the Nasdaq is up 2.25 points or 0.1 percent at 4,088.48 and the S&P 500 is up 0.42 point or less than a tenth of a percent at 1,862.73.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX