Major Averages Bouncing Back And Forth Across Unchanged Line

(RTTNews) - Stocks have shown a lack of direction in early trading on Friday after showing a strong move to the upside over the past several sessions. The major averages have been bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders digest Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's prepared remarks at the Kansas City Fed's economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Yellen's remarks did not provide any hints about the outlook for interest rates and largely focused on the difficulty in judging the remaining degree of slack in the labor market.

The Fed chief concluded her remarks by acknowledging that the central bank could go either way with regard to interest rates.

While Yellen said an increase in rates could come sooner than expected if progress on inflation and the labor market occur more rapidly than anticipated, she also said the future path of rates could be more accommodative if the economic performance turns out to be disappointing.

Peter Boockvar, managing director at the Lindsey Group, said, "Bottom line, the speech was an academic discussion that was a non-event in terms of gleaning any clues to when future policy moves, past the end of QE, will occur."

Contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves.

While some strength is visible among financial and biotechnology stocks, commercial real estate and energy stocks have moved to the downside.

Currently, the major averages are posting modest gains on the day. The Dow is up 12.40 points or 0.1 percent at 17,051.89, the Nasdaq is up 11.60 points or 0.3 percent at 4,543.71 and the S&P 500 is up 0.98 points or 0.1 percent at 1,993.35.