U.S. Stocks Showing A Lack Of Direction In Morning Trading

After turning lower over the course of the previous session, stocks are showing a lack of direction during trading on Tuesday. The major averages have spent the morning bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

Currently, the major averages are posting modest losses. The Dow is down 48.60 points or 0.1 percent at 34,447.46, the Nasdaq is down 9.04 points or 0.1 percent at 14,477.16 and the S&P 500 is down 5.09 points or 0.1 percent at 4,356.10.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders express some uncertainty about the outlook for the markets following the volatility seen throughout early October.

Concerns about inflation and the Federal Reserve scaling back stimulus as early as next month continue to weigh on the markets.

Earnings news is also on traders’ minds, with financial giant JPMorgan Chase (JPM) due to report its third quarter results before the start of trading on Wednesday.

Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Morgan Stanley (MS), Wells Fargo (WFC), and Goldman Sachs (GS) are also due to report their quarterly results in the coming days.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing job openings dropped to 10.4 million in August from an upwardly revised 11.1 million in July.

Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets.

Gold stocks have shown a significant move to the upside, however, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index jumping by 2.3 percent.

The rally by gold stocks comes amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, as gold for December delivery is climbing $13.20 to $1,768.90 an ounce.

Oil service and tobacco are also seeing some strength on the day, while computer hardware stocks have moved to the downside.

Among individual stocks, shares of MGM Resorts (MGM) have shown a strong move to the upside after Credit Suisse upgraded its rating on the resort operator’s stock to Outperform from Neutral.

Airbnb (ABNB) is also seeing notable strength after Cowen upgraded its rating on the vacation rental company to Outperform from Market Perform.

On the other hand, shares of CureVac (CVAC) have come under pressure after the biopharmaceutical company said it would halt development of its first-generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate and focus on developing second-generation mRNA vaccine candidates in collaboration with GSK.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 0.9 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 1.3 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has fallen by 0.7 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved modestly higher as trading resumes following the holiday on Monday. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.6 basis points at 1.589 percent.

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