Cc - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks continued to show a lack of direction as traders seemed uncertain about the near-term outlook for the markets after the Dow and S&P 500 reached record highs last week.

While the Nasdaq fell 18.10 points or 0.3 percent to 6,247.15, the Dow edged up 14.79 points or 0.1 percent to 21,409.55 and the S&P 500 inched up 0.77 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 2,493.07.

On the U.S. economic front, new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods fell by more than expected in the month of May, according to a report released by the Commerce Department.

The report said durable goods orders tumbled by 1.1 percent in May after slumping by 0.9 percent in April. Economists had expected orders to drop by 0.6 percent.

The bigger than expected decrease in durable goods orders was primarily due to a steep drop in orders for transportation equipment, which plunged by 3.4 percent in May after sliding by 1.8 percent in April.

Excluding orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders actually inched up by 0.1 percent in May after falling by 0.5 percent in April. Ex-transportation orders had been expected to rise by 0.5 percent.

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

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed by 0.8 percent.

The major European markets also moved to the upside. While the French CAC 40 advanced by 0.6 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both rose by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are seeing modest strength after showing a lack of direction in recent sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.9 basis points at 2.125 percent.