Stocks are turning in a lackluster performance in early trading on Friday, as traders seem reluctant to make any significant moves. The major averages are lingering near the unchanged line after the Dow briefly peeked above the key 13,000 level at the open.
The major averages are currently posting slim gains, with the Dow just below 13,000. The Dow is up 10.44 points or 0.1 percent at 12,995.13, the Nasdaq is up 5.23 points or 0.2 percent at 2,692.21 and the S&P 500 is up 2.26 points or 0.2 percent at 1,365.72.
The choppy trading comes as traders seem to be staying on the sidelines amid questions about whether the global economic situation supports further upside for the markets.
Shortly, trading could be impacted by the release of Reuters and the University of Michigan's final report on consumer sentiment in the month of February. The consumer sentiment index for February is expected to be upwardly revised to 73.0 from the preliminary reading of 72.5.
The Commerce Department is also scheduled to release its report on new home sales in the month of January. Economists expect new home sales to increase to an annual rate of 315,000 in January from 307,000 in December.
While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves, early strength is visible among health insurance stocks. The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index is up by 1.5 percent amid strong gains by Molina Healthcare (MOH) and WellCare (WCG).
Networking, steel, and computer hardware stocks are seeing more modest strength, while weakness has emerged among healthcare provider stocks.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.5 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged up by 0.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have turned mixed on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has edged down by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are both up by 0.5 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are nearly flat amid the choppy trading on Wall Street. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note is up by less than a basis point at 1.986 percent.
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