WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving to the downside early in the session, the major U.S. stock indexes have turned mixed over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has bounced off its lows of the session and into positive territory, while the Dow and the S&P 500 remain in the red.
The Nasdaq reached a new record intraday high in recent trading and is currently up 38.36 points or 0.2 percent at 17,230.89.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is down 10.73 points or 0.2 percent at 5,350.06 and the Dow is down 262.29 points or 0.7 percent at 38,605.75.
The mixed performance by the major averages comes as traders are looking ahead to two major economic events on Wednesday.
Early trading on Wednesday is likely to be driven by reaction to the Labor Department's closely watched report on consumer price inflation in the month of May.
Economists expect consumer prices to inch up by 0.1 percent in May after climbing by 0.3 percent in April, while core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, are expected to increase by 0.3 percent for the second straight month.
The annual rate of growth by consumer prices is expected to come in unchanged at 3.4 percent, but the annual rate of core consumer price growth is expected to slow to 3.5 percent in May from 3.6 percent in April.
The data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later in the day.
While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest projections for the economy and interest rates.
Sector News
While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves, banking stocks continue to see considerable weakness, dragging the KBW Bank Index down by 2.1 percent to its lowest intraday level in nearly two months.
Significant weakness also remains visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 2.0 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The sell-off by gold stocks comes amid a slight decrease by the price of the precious metal.
Airline stocks have also shown a notable move to the downside on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index falling by 1.6 percent.
Steel, housing and brokerage stocks are also seeing some weakness, while modest strength has emerged among computer hardware stocks.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in another mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.3 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slid by 0.8 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped by 1.0 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.7 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are regaining ground following the pullback seen over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4.1 basis points at 4.428 percent.
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