WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks showed a lack of direction early in the session on Tuesday and continue to turn in a lackluster performance in afternoon trading. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line, although the narrower has slid more firmly into the red.
Currently, the Nasdaq is up 7.22 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 16,893.82, while the S&P 500 is down 9.05 points or 0.2 percent at 5,461.00 and the Dow is down 265.89 points or 0.7 percent at 40,563.70.
The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders look ahead to the release of closely watched inflation data in the coming days.
The Labor Department is scheduled to release reports on consumer and producer price inflation in the month of August on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
The reports are expected to show slowdowns by the rates of consumer and producer price growth compared to the same month a year ago.
The data could impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting next week.
The Fed is almost universally expected to begin lowering interest rates next week, but there is some debate about the size of the rate cut.
CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 67 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by 25 basis points and a 33 percent chance of a 50 basis point rate cut.
Sector News
Most of the major sectors continue to show only modest moves on the day, contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets.
Banking stocks continue to see substantial weakness, however, with the KBW Bank Index plunging by 3.4 percent to its lowest intraday level in almost a month.
A steep drop by the price of crude oil is also weighing on energy stocks, dragging the Philadelphia Oil Service Index and the NYSE Arca Oil Index down by 3.2 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.
Airline, brokerage and computer hardware stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while software stocks have shown a strong move to the upside, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index up by 1.1 percent.
Oracle (ORCL) has led the software sector higher, soaring by 11.5 percent after reporting better than expected fiscal first quarter results and announcing a strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dipped by 0.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slumped by 1.0 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.8 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slipped by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are extending the upward trend seen over the past several sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4.0 basis points at 3.659 percent.
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