Investing.com – U.S. stocks took a breather on Tuesday trading flat and mixed after an initially lower open as investors evaluated the risk factors from the attacks in the Belgian capital Brussels and digested seemingly contradictory economic data stateside while waiting for more signals from Federal Reserve officials.
At 15:47GMT or 11:47AM ET, the Dow 30 traded down 25 points, or 0.14%, while the S&P 500 slipped 1 point, or 0.03%, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite gained 11 points, or 0.23%.
Though Wall Street initially opened with modest losses following Europe down in a risk adverse reaction to the bombing attacks in Brussels, stocks across the globe pared their losses in a recovery from the first panicked response as traders may have remembered the short-lived reaction to terrorist attacks last November in Paris.
The pause may be due to the upcoming long-weekend due to Wall Street closure on Friday as part of the Easter holiday, though CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael Hewson warned that investors would be more apt to take money off the table before the break.
At the same time, U.S. stocks are coming off a five-week rally that returned gains of 8% in the S&P 500 and brought the U.S. benchmark to within 5% of all-time highs.
Meanwhile, data was mixed on Tuesday with the Markit flash manufacturing PMI for March missing estimates and the research group’s chief economist Chris Williamson noting that “U.S. factories continue to endure their worst spell for three and a half years” and suggesting that the data pointed to only “very modest GDP growth in the first quarter”.
“Hopes are therefore pinned on a rise in Thursday’s services flash PMI for March to reassure that the economy is not completely stalling,” he warned.
However, another reading for the sector showed a much more optimistic view as the Richmond Fed U.S. factory index hit its highest level since April 2010.
As market participants chewed over Tuesday’s economic data, the Federal Reserve (Fed) and the future path for removal of accommodative monetary policy remained in focus after both San Francisco Fed President John Williams and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said in separate news reports on Monday that a rate hike could come as early as next month.
In this light, market participants will pay attention to a couple of scheduled speeches from other Fed officials to come later in the session. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans is scheduled to speak in the afternoon on economic conditions and monetary policy, while Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker is due to speak in the evening on growth and the role of economic policies.
Oil prices underwent choppy trade on Tuesday as investors evaluated the effect from the attacks in Brussels and digested news flow on the state of events with regard to a possible agreement on a production freeze.
Even as Qatar officially invited OPEC members and other major oil producers to a meeting on the issue on April 17, crude hit intraday lows after Libya quickly made clear that it would not attend.
Furthermore, market players looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products. The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Wednesday’s government report could show crude stockpiles rose by 3.0 million barrels in the week ended March 18.
Crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost 0.39% to $41.36 a barrel by 15:48GMT or 11:48AM ET, while Brent oil gained 0.12% to $41.59.
In a slow day for company news, Mattress Firm Holding Corp (NASDAQ:MFRM) crashed almost 14% after missing street forecasts with quarterly earnings and giving a guidance well below expectations.
After presenting a new, smaller iPhone on Monday, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose close to 1% as it was reported by tech news site Ars Technica that the company was in “advanced talks” to buy British Imagination Technologies in a move that would advance its endeavors into chip R&D.
Finally, Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) will report earnings after the close.