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After seeing modest weakness earlier in the session, stocks are nearly flat in early afternoon trading on Tuesday. The lackluster performance comes after the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 ended the previous session at record closing highs.<\/p>\n
Currently, the major averages are lingering near the unchanged line. While the S&P 500 is up 0.27 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 4,187.89, the Dow is down 28.67 points or 0.1 percent at 33,952.90 and the Nasdaq is down 25.70 points or 0.2 percent at 14,113.08.<\/p>\n
A mixed reaction to the latest earnings news has contributed to the choppy trading on Wall Street, with several big-name companies also due to report their quarterly results after the close of trading.<\/p>\n
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) have moved sharply lower even though the electric car maker reported better than expected first quarter results.<\/p>\n
Conglomerates General Electric (GE) and 3M (MMM) have also moved to the downside despite reporting first quarter earnings that beat expectations.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, shares of UPS (UPS) have spiked after the delivery giant reported first quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.<\/p>\n
Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Advance Micro Devices (AMD), and Microsoft (MSFT) are among the companies due to report their results after the close of today’s trading.<\/p>\n
Traders may also be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Fed is widely expected to maintain its ultra-easy monetary policy, but traders will be paying close attention to any changes to the accompanying statement that may signal a shift in the near future.<\/p>\n
In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board released a report showing consumer confidence reached its highest level since February of 2020 in the month of April.<\/p>\n
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index jumped to 121.7 in April after spiking to a revised 109.0 in March.<\/p>\n
Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to rise to 112.0 from the 109.7 originally reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n
Sector News<\/p>\n
Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets<\/span>.<\/p>\n Housing stocks have shown a significant move to the upside, however, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index surging up by 1.8 percent to its best intraday level since a two-for-one split in early 2006.<\/p>\n On the other hand, gold stocks have mover notably lower over the course of the session, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 1.1 percent.<\/p>\n The weakness among gold stocks comes amid a modest decrease by the price of the precious metal, with gold for June delivery slipping $1.80 to $1,778.30 an ounce.<\/p>\n Other Markets<\/p>\n In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.5 percent, while Australia’s S&P\/ASX 200 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.<\/p>\n The major European markets also showed modest moves to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index closed just below the unchanged line, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both slipped by 0.3 percent.<\/p>\n In the bond market, treasuries are seeing moderate weakness after ending the previous session nearly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.3 basis points at 1.593 percent. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Business News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n