WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, extending the lackluster performance seen in the previous session. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly lower.
The Dow fell 180.45 points or 0.4 percent to 51,670.10, the Nasdaq dipped 41.52 points or 0.2 percent to 27,204.38 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.79 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 7,805.45.
Traders seemingly remained reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of a closely watched report on consumer price inflation on Wednesday.
The Labor Department is expected to show the annual rate of consumer price growth accelerated to 3.7 percent in September from 3.4 percent in August.
The data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting later this month.
Ahead of the release of the data, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 78.4 percent chance the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged after last month's quarter point rate hike.
The choppy trading on Wall Street also came as traders reacted to mixed earnings news from financial giants Wells Fargo (WFC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS).
Shares of Wells Fargo showed a notable move to the downside after the company reported third quarter earnings that exceeded estimates but weaker than expected revenues.
JPMorgan also moved lower after the company reported weaker than expected third quarter results, although it raised its net interest income outlook for the year.
Shares of Goldman Sachs also dipped even though the company reported third quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Sector News
Pharmaceutical stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, dragging the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index down by 2.2 percent.
Significant weakness was also visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.
Airline, biotechnology and banking stocks also saw considerable weakness, while energy stocks surged amid a continued increase by the price of crude oil.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Tuesday. South Korea's Kopsi plunged by 5.5 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.8 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 0.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved modestly lower on the day. The French CAC 40 Index, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index all edged down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries moved to the upside following the Columbus Day holiday on Monday. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, has fallen 2.9 basis points to 5.215 percent.
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