Stocks Close Roughly Flat Following Choppy Trading Day - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After turning in a strong performance last week, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout the trading day on Monday before ending the session roughly flat. Traders seemed reluctant to make any significant moves amid another holiday-interrupted week.

The major averages finished the day mixed, although they all showed only modest moves. While the Dow crept up 25.88 points or 0.2 percent to 16,504.29, the Nasdaq edged down 2.40 points or 0.1 percent to 4,154.20 and the S&P 500 dipped 0.33 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 1,841.07.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as many traders remained away from their desks following the Christmas Day holiday last Wednesday and ahead of the upcoming New Year's Day holiday.

While window dressing sometimes contributes to upward momentum for the markets in the final days of the year, investors may be reluctant to continue buying stocks following recent strength.

Traders largely shrugged off a report from the National Association of Realtors showing a much smaller than expected increase in pending home sales in the month of November.

NAR said its pending home sales index inched up 0.2 percent to 101.7 in November from a downwardly revised 101.5 in October. Economists had been expecting the index to jump by about 1.5 percent.

A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.

Among individual stocks, shares of Crocs (CROX) moved sharply higher after the footwear maker said it is receiving a $200 million investment from Blackstone (BX). Crocs also said its president and CEO intends to retire.

Cooper Tire (CTB) showed a notable turnaround on the day after initially coming under pressure on the heels of news the tire company terminated its proposed $2.2 billion sale to India's Apollo Tyres.

On the other hand, Apple (AAPL) moved to the downside after the tech giant's board of directors advised shareholders to vote against Carl Icahn's $50 billion buyback proposal.

Sector News

Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, contributing to the lack of direction shown by the broader markets.

Gold stocks saw considerable weakness, however, as a decrease by the price of the precious metal weighed on the sector. With gold for February delivery sliding $10.20 to $1,203.80, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index tumbled by 2.6 percent.

At the same time, some strength was visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.7 percent, while Australia's All Ordinaries Index rose by 0.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index fell by 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasuries regained some ground after coming under pressure last week. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dropped 3 basis points to 2.976 percent.

Looking Ahead

While activity may remain subdued on Tuesday, trading could be impacted by the release of reports on home prices, consumer confidence, and Chicago-area business activity.