Wall Street Closes Flat Even As U.S. GDP Beats Expectations

(RTTNews) - Stocks were little changed Tuesday, unable to sustain any direction following a mixed batch of economic data, including an upbeat reading on U.S. third quarter GDP.

The S&P 500 closed 2.37 points, or 0.1 percent, lower at 2,067.04. The index touched a new record high before turning lower in the final hour of the session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 3 points, or 0.02 percent to 17,814.94. The Nasdaq Composite nudged up 3.4 points, or 0.1 percent, at 4,758.25.

The Commerce Department released a report before the start of trading showing that U.S. economic activity unexpectedly increased by more than previously estimated in the third quarter.

The report said gross domestic product increased by 3.9 percent in the third quarter compared to the previously reported 3.5 percent increase.

The upward revision came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the pace of GDP growth to be downwardly revised to 3.3 percent.

However, the Conference Board recently released a separate report showing an unexpected deterioration in consumer confidence in the month of November.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index dropped to 88.7 in November from a downwardly revised 94.1 in October. Economists had expected the index to climb to 96.5 from the 94.5 originally reported for the previous month.

The lackluster performance also comes as traders looking ahead to the release of a slew of U.S. economic data on Wednesday.

The upcoming Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday and the abbreviated trading day on Friday may have kept some traders on the sidelines.

Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves, although considerable strength has emerged among gold stocks.

The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index surged up by 3.9 percent, with the strength in the sector coming even as gold prices were nearly flat.

Gold for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, moved up $1.40 or near 0.1 percent to settle at $1,197.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday.

Oil futures slumped to their lowest close in more than four years. Nymex WTI crude for January delivery dropped $1.69, or 2.2%, to close at $74.09 a barrel.

The S&P 500 Energy Index dropped 1.6 percent.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged down by 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks added 0.45 percent. Around Europe, German DAX rose 0.77 percent, the French CAC 40 gained 0.32 percent and the FTSE 100 index of the U.K. inched up 0.02 percent.