Major Averages Turning In Mixed Performance In Mid-Day Trading

(RTTNews) - With traders seemingly reluctant to make any significant moves, stocks continue to show a lack of direction in mid-day trading on Friday. Nonetheless, the markets are largely holding on to the bulk of their recent gains.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street comes on the heels of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's speech at the Kansas City Fed's economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

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

Most of the major sectors continue to show only modest moves in mid-day trading, contributing to the lack of direction being shown by the broader markets.

While energy and steel stocks have moved to the downside on the day, moderate strength has emerged among electronic storage and software stocks.

The major averages currently continue to turn in a mixed performance. While the Nasdaq is up 8.36 points or 0.2 percent at 4,540.47, while the Dow is down 21.83 point or 0.1 percent at 17,017.66 and the S&P 500 is down 2.37 points or 0.1 percent at 1,990.00.