Major Averages Lingering Near The Unchanged Line In Early Trading

(RTTNews) - With traders seemingly reluctant to make any significant moves, stocks are turning in a lackluster performance in early trading on Tuesday. The major averages have been bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as many traders are staying on the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

The Fed is not expected to announce an increase in interest rates due to some recent signs of economic sluggishness, but traders will be paying close attention to any hints regarding the timing of the first rate hike.

The monetary policy statement will be accompanied by a press conference by Fed Chair Janet Yellen as well as the central bank's latest forecasts.

Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves, contributing to the lack of direction being shown by the broader markets.

Gold stocks are seeing significant weakness, however, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index falling by 1.5 percent. The weakness in the sector comes as the price of gold for August delivery is sliding $8.80 to $1,177 an ounce.

Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. While the Nasdaq is down 1.36 points or less than 0.1 percent at 5,028.61, the Dow is up 22.15 points or 0.1 percent at 17,813.32 and the S&P 500 is up 0.76 points or less than 0.1 percent at 2,085.19.