Investing.com - Wall Street traded slightly higher on Tuesday despite some downbeat data that received negative impact from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, while markets looked ahead to a speech from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen.
At 11:09AM ET (15:09GMT), the Dow Jones rose 26 points, or 0.12%, the S&P 500 inched up 1 point, or 0.04%, while the Nasdaq Composite edged forward 1 point, or 0.01%.
Yellen is scheduled to give a speech on “Inflation, Uncertainty and Monetary Policy” to the annual meeting of the National Association of Business Economics at 12:45PM ET (16:45GMT).
Although the topic would normally be eye-catching, less than a week has passed since Yellen’s post-policy decision press conference.
At that appearance, the Fed chief downplayed the significance of the weak core inflation data as the central bank set the start date for the reduction of its balance sheet and signaled that an additional rate hike this year remained appropriate.
On Monday, New York Fed president William Dudley, generally considered to be closely aligned with Yellen’s way of thinking, reiterated his view that rate hikes would continue gradually because the economy is solid and factors depressing inflation are "fading".
Earlier on Tuesday, Chicago Fed president Charles Evans said that he broadly agrees with his colleagues who believe rates should rise gradually, but he thought it would be a “misstep” to act again before there was more evidence of inflation recovering.
Fed governor Lael Brainard spoke on labor market disparities and avoided comments on monetary policy.
Still ahead, Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic will deliver a speech on the economy and monetary policy at 12:30PM ET (16:30GMT).
In economic data out Tuesday, both consumer confidence for September and August new home sales missed forecasts, though the Conference Board and the Commerce Department suggested that the data was likely negatively impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
In company news, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) led the Dow higher with gains of around 1.5% after Raymond James analysts reported their outperform rating on the stock based on what they expect to be “surprising demand” for the iPhone X.
In earnings news, Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) tumbled 6% after same-store sales at its Olive Garden chain rose only 1.9%, missing forecasts for growth of 2.5%.
Shares of Red Hat Inc (NYSE:RHT), however, rose more than 2% after the Linux distributor beat with second quarter earnings.
Nike (NYSE:NKE) and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) will be among firms reporting after the market close.
In other news, Equifax (NYSE:EFX) slumped 1.7% after the credit reporting firm announced that its chief executive would retire in the wake of a massive cyber-attack scandal.
Meanwhile, oil prices lost ground on Tuesday as investors locked in profit after gaining roughly 20% from their June lows, meeting the definition of a bull market, as data showed strong compliance from major producers with their supply cut agreement and as talk grows of a likely extension of the deal.
U.S. crude futures lost 0.52% to $51.95 by 11:11AM ET (15:11GMT), while Brent oil traded down 0.58% to $58.09.