WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the weakness seen in the previous session, stocks have shown a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The major averages have spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.
Currently, the major averages are narrowly mixed. While the Nasdaq is up 12.61 points or 0.1 percent at 26,832.99, the S&P 500 is down 9.60 points or 0.1 percent at 7,674.09 and the Dow is down 228.86 points or 0.4 percent at 51,252.65.
The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders seem reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data on Wednesday.
The inflation data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting late next month.
CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 68.1 percent chance the Fed will raise rates by another quarter point at its October meeting.
Traders are also keeping an eye on the price of crude oil, which has seen considerable volatility eover the course of the day.
After surging by as much as 2.3 percent earlier in the day, U.S. crude oil futures are currently slumping by 1.4 percent.
Despite the pullback by the price of crude oil, treasury yields have turned higher over the course of the session, extending a recent upward trend.
On the U.S. economic front, a report released by the Conference Board unexpectedly showed a notable deterioration in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of September.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index slumped to 81.9 in September from a downwardly revised 88.6 in August.
Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to inch up to 90.0 from 89.4 originally reported for the previous month.
Sector News
Reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day.
However, oil service stocks have moved sharply lower along with the price of crude oil, dragging the Philadelphia Oil Service Index down by 2 percent to its lowest intraday level in almost two months.
Notable weakness is also visible among pharmaceutical stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index.
Biotechnology stocks are also seeing some weakness on the day, while semiconductor stocks have surged, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 2.2 percent.to a two-month intraday high.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in another mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index declined by 0.6 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.2 percent.
The major European markets have also turned mixed on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both down by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have turned lower over the course of the session after an early rebound. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.3 basis points at 5.267 percent.
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