Stocks Continue To Turn In Lackluster Performance - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks continue to turn in a lackluster performance in mid-day trading on Tuesday after initially showing a lack of direction. The modest moves on the day come on the heels of the strong upward move that was seen last week.

Currently, the major averages are on opposite sides of the unchanged line. While the Nasdaq is up 5.40 points or 0.1 percent at 4,938.91, the Dow is down 85.85 points or 0.5 percent at 17,787.37 and the S&P 500 is down 3.98 points or 0.2 percent at 2,095.08. The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders seem somewhat reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

The Labor Department report, which is expected to show an increase of 158,000 jobs in May, could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates.

Traders largely seemed to have shrugged off the slew of data released this morning, including a Commerce Department report showing a jump in personal spending.

The Commerce Department said personal spending surged up by 1.0 percent in April after coming in unchanged in March. Economists had expected spending to climb by 0.7 percent.

The report also said personal income rose by 0.4 percent in April, matching the increase seen in the previous month as well as economist estimates.

Meanwhile, a separate report from the Conference Board showed an unexpected drop in consumer confidence in the month of May.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index dropped to 92.6 in May from 94.7 in April. The index had been expected to climb to 97.0.

MNI Indicators also released a report showing an unexpected contraction in Chicago-area business activity in May.

Sector News

Despite the lackluster performance by the broader markets, electronic storage stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside on the day. The NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index has surged up by 2.5 percent to its best intraday level in well over a month.

Violin Memory (VMEM) is turning in one of the storage sector's best performances, with the with the memory-based storage systems developers soaring by 8.3 percent.

Considerable strength is also visible among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 2 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX), Novavax (NVAX) and Alnylam (ALNY) are posting standout gains.

Gold, natural gas, and railroad stocks are also seeing significant strength on the day, while most of the other major sectors are showing only modest moves.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 1 percent, but Australia's All Ordinaries Index dropped by 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved lower on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index dropped by 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasuries have climbed back near the unchanged line after seeing early weakness. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by less than a basis point at 1.849 percent.