WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have shown a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Tuesday, with the major averages bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line after recovering from initial weakness to end the previous session modestly higher.
Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. While the Nasdaq is up 15.33 points or 0.1 percent at 23,749.24, the S&P 500 is down 11.54 points or 0.2 percent at 6,965.73 and the Dow is down 302.06 points or 0.6 percent at 49,288.14.
The Dow is pulling back off the record closing high set on Monday amid a slump by shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), with the financial giant tumbling by 3.5 percent.
JPMorgan is under pressure after reporting fourth quarter profits that decreased year-over-year, although its adjusted earnings exceeded analyst estimates.
The choppy trading by the broader markets may reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook amid a flurry of proposals by President Donald Trump.
Trump has recently called for a one-year cap on credit card rates at 10 percent and has also said defense companies should not be permitted to issue dividends or stock buybacks and that large institutional investors should be banned from buying single-family homes.
In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of December.
The Labor Department said its consumer price index climbed by 0.3 percent in December, matching economist expectations.
Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices rose by 0.2 percent in December. Economists had expected core prices to rise by 0.3 percent.
The report also said the annual rate of growth by consumer prices came in at 2.7 percent in December, unchanged from November and in line with estimates.
The annual rate of growth by core consumer prices was also unchanged from the previous month at 2.6 percent, while economists had expected an uptick to 2.7 percent.
Sector News
Networking stocks are turning in some of the market's best performances on the day, resulting in a 2.1 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.
A spike by the price of crude oil is also contributing to significant strength among energy stocks, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index and the NYSE Arca Oil Index climbing by 1.9 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.
Steel, semiconductor and gold stocks are also seeing some strength on the day, while software and brokerage stocks have shown notable moves to the downside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 3.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day narrowly mixed. While the German DAX Index crept up by 0.1, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line and the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved back to the upside following the consumer price inflation data. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.6 basis points at 4.171 percent.
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