Stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, as traders waited for additional news out of Greece. The choppy trading extended the trend seen over the past few sessions.
The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line, eventually closing modestly higher. The Dow inched up 5.75 points or less than 0.1 percent to 12,883.95, the Nasdaq rose 11.78 points or 0.4 percent to 2,915.86 and the S&P 500 climbed 2.91 points or 0.2 percent to 1,349.96.
The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders kept a close eye on developments in Greece, where officials are attempting to reach an agreement on reforms needed to secure a new 130 billion euro bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is reportedly meeting with the leaders of the three parties in the coalition government in order to finalize the agreement.
Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak, said, "We're all tired of discussing Greece at this point and hopefully by Monday we won't have to for a while."
The continued focus on Greece came amid another light day on the U.S. economic front, although the Mortgage Bankers Association released a report this morning showing a 7.5 percent jump in mortgage applications last week.
In corporate news, shares of Disney (DIS) rose by 0.7 percent after the entertainment giant reported first quarter earnings that rose to $0.80 per share on revenues that edged up to $10.8 billion. While the earnings exceeded analyst estimates, the company's revenues grew less than expected.
Time Warner (TWX) closed nearly flat after reporting stronger than expected fourth quarter earnings, while Sprint Nextel (S) fell by 1.6 percent after reporting a fourth quarter loss that was notably wider than in the year-ago quarter.
Meanwhile, Caesars Entertainment (CZR) showed a substantial upward move in its first day of trading, jumping 71 percent from its debut price of $9 per share.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 1.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 1.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved modestly lower over the course of the trading day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slipped by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both edged down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries showed a lack of direction through the session, ending the day roughly flat. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged up by less than a basis point to 1.975 percent.
Despite the lackluster performance by the broader markets, semiconductor stocks saw considerable strength on the day. Reflecting the strength in the semiconductor sector, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose by 1.3 percent.
Graphics chip maker Nvidia (NVDA) turned in one of the semiconductor sector's best performances, advancing by 3.6 percent to a nearly eight-month closing high. The gain by Nvidia came on the heels of news that the company has signed a patent license agreement with Rambus (RMBS).
Significant strength was also visible among computer hardware socks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. With the gain, the index reached its best closing level in over eleven years.
While banking and health insurance stocks also posted strong gains on the day, airline, biotechnology, and gold stocks saw notable weakness.
Trading activity may pick up on Thursday following monetary policy announcements from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England. The U.S. Labor Department's report on weekly jobless claims is also likely to attract attention.
Reaction to quarterly results from Cisco Systems (CSCO) could also impact trading on Thursday, with the networking giant releasing its results after the close of Wednesday's trading.
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