WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After showing a lack of direction early in the session, stocks continue to turn in a lackluster performance in mid-day trading on Tuesday. Despite the choppy trading, the Dow has risen to a new record intraday high.
Currently, the Dow is up 121.54 points or 0.4 percent at 29,028.59, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are just below the unchanged line. The Nasdaq is down 3.20 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 9,270.73 and the S&P 500 is down 0.33 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 3,287.80.
The lackluster performance on Wall Street comes as traders seem reluctant to make significant moves as they digest quarterly results from several big-name financial companies.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) are seeing significant strength after the financial giant reported better than expected fourth quarter results.
Citigroup (C) has also shown a strong move to the upside after reporting fourth quarter results that beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
On the other hand, shares of Wells Fargo (WFC) have come under pressure after the banking giant reported fourth quarter results that missed expectations.
Financial giants Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Morgan Stanley (MS) are also due to report their quarterly results in the coming days as earnings season picks up steam.
In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased by slightly less than anticipated in the month of December.
The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.2 percent in December after climbing by 0.3 percent in November. Economists had been expecting another 0.3 percent increase.
Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices inched up by 0.1 percent in December after rising by 0.2 percent in November. Core prices had been expected to rise by another 0.2 percent.
Later this week, traders are likely to keep a close eye on reports on retail sales, housing starts, and industrial production.
Reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors continue to show only moves in mid-day trading.
However, biotechnology stocks are showing a significant rebound after bucking the uptrend seen in the previous session, with the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index jumping by 1.8 percent after tumbling by 2 percent on Monday.
Transportation and banking stocks are also seeing some strength on the day, while commercial real estate stocks have moved to the downside.
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 0.7 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index dipped by 0.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended a choppy session slightly higher. While the German DAX Index closed just above the unchanged line, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both inched up by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved back to the upside following the pullback seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.7 basis points at 1.821 percent.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX