U.S. Stocks Pull Back Near The Unchanged Line After Seeing Some Strength

Stocks moved moderately higher over the course of morning trading on Tuesday but have given back ground since then. The major averages have pulled back off their highs of the session and are once again lingering near the unchanged line.

After climbing nearly 200 points to its best intraday level in over three months, the Dow is currently up 56.88 points or 0.2 percent at 35,390.35. The Nasdaq is up 5.25 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 14,246.30 and the S&P 500 is up 0.23 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 4,550.66.

The strength that emerged earlier in the session came on the heels of remarks by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller adding to optimism the Fed is done raising interest rates.

Speaking at an American Enterprise Institute event, Waller said he is “increasingly confident that policy is currently well positioned to slow the economy and get inflation back to 2 percent.”

Waller warned that he cannot say for sure whether the Fed has done enough to achieve price stability but expressed hope incoming economic data will help answer that question.

However, the buying interest generated by Waller’s remarks was partly offset by conflicting comments from Fed Governor Michelle W. Bowman.

Bowman said during a Utah Bankers Association and Salt Lake Chamber breakfast that she continues to expect the Fed we will need to increase rates further to keep policy sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to 2 percent in a timely way.

Overall trading activity has remained subdued, however, with traders reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of several key economic reports in the coming days.

On Thursday, the Commerce Department is due to release its report on personal income and spending in the month of October.

The report includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Fed and could impact the outlook for interest rates.

Sector News

Most of the major sectors continue to show only modest moves on the day, although gold stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside.

Extending a recent upward trend, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index has spiked by 4.3 percent to its best intraday level in almost four months.

The rally by gold stocks comes amid a sharp increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery surging $27.60 to $2,040 ounce.

On the other hand, semiconductor stocks have come under pressure over the course of the session, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 1.3 percent.

Weakness has also emerged among tobacco, brokerage and transportation stocks, but selling pressure has remained relatively subdued.

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 edged down by 0.1 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.0 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi jumped by 1.1 percent.

The major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the German DAX Index crept up by 0.2 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index slipped by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have pulled back off their highs of the session but remain in positive territory. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 3.3 basis points at 4.356 percent.

Source: Read Full Article