U.S. Stocks Lack Direction Ahead Of Key Data, Earnings

After recovering from an initial move to the downside, stocks have shown a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Tuesday. The major averages have recently been bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

Currently, the major averages are posting modest gains. The Dow is up 22.37 points or 0.1 percent at 42,409.94, the Nasdaq is up 59.70 points or 0.3 percent at 18,626.89 and the S&P 500 is up 6.66 points or 0.1 percent at 5,830.18.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders look ahead to the release of some key U.S. economic data later in the week.

The Labor Department’s monthly jobs report and the Federal Reserve’s preferred readings on inflation are likely to be in the spotlight as traders look for clues about the outlook for interest rates.

Traders may also be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of earnings news from big-name tech companies, with Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) among the companies due to report their quarterly results after the close of today’s trading.

Meanwhile, traders have largely shrugged off a Conference Board report showing a substantial improvement by U.S. consumer confidence in the month of October.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index surged to 108.7 in October after tumbling to a revised 99.2 in September.

Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to inch up to 99.1 from the 98.7 originally reported for the previous month.

A separate report released by the Labor Department showed job openings in the U.S. fell to 7.44 million in September from a downwardly revised 7.86 million in August.

Economists had expected job openings to edge down to 7.99 million from the 8.04 million originally reported for the previous month.

Sector News

While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, housing stocks have moved sharply lower, dragging the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index down by 3.9 percent to its lowest intraday level in over a month.

Homebuilder D.R. Horton (DHI) is posting a steep loss after reporting fiscal fourth quarter results that missed estimates and providing disappointing guidance.

Significant weakness is also visible among airline stocks, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index plunging by 3.2 percent after ending the previous session at its best closing level in over a year.

Shares of JetBlue (JBLU) have plummeted after the airline reported better than expected third quarter results but forecast a decrease in fourth quarter revenue.

On the other hand, networking stocks have shown a strong move to the upside, driving the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 1.5 percent.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.8 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose by 0.3, although China’s Shanghai Composite Index bucked the uptrend and slumped by 1.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the downward move seen over the two previous sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 3.6 basis points at 4.314 percent.