WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving to the downside early in the session, stocks have fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The Dow and the Nasdaq briefly climbed into positive territory but have pulled back into the red since then.
Currently, the major averages are posting modest losses. The Dow is down 52.48 points or 0.2 percent at 26,083.31, the Nasdaq is down 11.60 points or 0.1 percent at 7,991.21 and the S&P 500 is down 7.73 points or 0.3 percent at 2,915.92.
The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as seem somewhat reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's late-July meeting on Wednesday.
The minutes, along with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's speech on Friday, may shed additional light on the outlook for interest rates.
The Fed cut interest rates by 25 basis points last month and CME Group's FedWatch tool currently indicates a 90.4 percent chance of another 25 basis point rate cut in September.
Powell suggested that the July rate cut should not be seen as 'the beginning of a lengthy cutting cycle,' but President Donald Trump has been putting intense pressure on the Fed to continue cutting rates.
Trump claimed in a post on Twitter on Monday that the U.S. economy is very strong in spite of Powell's 'horrendous lack of vision.'
'The Fed Rate, over a fairly short period of time, should be reduced by at least 100 basis points, with perhaps some quantitative easing as well,' Trump tweeted.
He added, 'If that happened, our Economy would be even better, and the World Economy would be greatly and quickly enhanced-good for everyone!'
Sector News
Energy stocks continue to see considerable weakness in mid-day trading, giving back ground after showing a substantial rebound over the two previous sessions.
The weakness among energy stocks comes amid a pullback by the price of crude oil, with crude for October delivery sliding $0.46 to $55.68 a barrel.
Reflecting the weakness in the energy sector, the Philadelphia oil Service Index and the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index are both down by 1.4 percent.
Tobacco, banking, and chemical stocks also continue to see notable weakness, although selling pressure has waned from earlier in the session.
On the other hand, gold stocks have moved sharply higher over the course of the day, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The strength in the sector comes amid a modest increase by the price of gold.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 0.6 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
In the bond market, treasuries are rebounding following the pullback seen over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4.2 basis points at 1.556 percent.
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