Stocks continue to turn in a relatively lackluster performance in mid-afternoon trading on Monday after seeing notable strength last week. While the Nasdaq has slipped firmly into negative territory, the Dow and the S&P 500 remain near the unchanged line.
The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as many traders are staying on the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve's upcoming monetary policy meeting.
The Fed is due to announce its latest decision on monetary policy Thursday afternoon followed by a news conference by Chairman Ben Bernanke. Uncertainty about whether the Fed will announce another round of quantitative easing is contributing to the lack of direction being shown by stocks.
While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves, semiconductor stocks have come under pressure on the day. Reflecting the weakness in the semiconductor sector, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has fallen by 1.2 percent.
Health insurance, networking, and commercial real estate stocks have also shown notable moves to the downside, while strength is visible among transportation stocks.
The major averages have moved to the downside in recent trading and are currently all in the red. The Dow is down 11.99 points or 0.1 percent at 13,294.65, the Nasdaq is down 18.64 points or 0.6 percent at 3,117.78 and the S&P 500 is down 3.01 points or 0.2 percent at 1,434.91.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com
Market Analysis