U.S. Stocks Little Changed Ahead Of Key Events

Following the lackluster performance seen during last Friday’s session, stocks continue to show a lack of direction during trading on Monday. The major averages have spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

Currently, the major averages are narrowly mixed. While the Nasdaq is up 16.41 points or 0.1 percent at 15,471.77, the S&P 500 is down 1.56 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 4,889.41 and the Dow is down 17.74 points or 0.1 percent at 38,091.69.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders seem reluctant to make significant ahead of several key events this week, including the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking for clues about the likelihood of rate cuts at upcoming meetings.

Recent economic data has led many economists to believe the Fed is unlikely to cut rates in March, as traders had previously hoped.

The Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report is also due to be released later this week along with reports on initial jobless claims, labor productivity and costs and manufacturing activity.

Earnings news is also likely to remain in focus this week, with tech giants Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Meta (META) and Alphabet (GOOGL) among the companies due to report their quarterly results.

Sector News

Reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day.

Airline stocks are seeing considerable weakness, however, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index falling by 1.6 percent.

Notable weakness is also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index both advanced by 0.8 percent, although China’s Shanghai Composite Index bucked the uptrend and slid by 0.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a lackluster performance on the day. While the German DAX Index is down by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index are both nearly unchanged.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved back to the upside after ending last Friday’s trading modestly lower. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 5.2 basis points at 4.108 percent.

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