Stocks Remain Mixed Ahead Of Yellen Remarks - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - With traders waiting on remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, stocks are turning in another lackluster performance during trading on Tuesday. The choppy trading comes after the major averages ended the previous session nearly flat.

Currently, the major averages continue to turn in a mixed performance. While the Nasdaq is up 18.87 points or 0.4 percent at 4,785.65, the Dow is down 38.97 points or 0.2 percent at 17,496.42 and the S&P 500 is down 1.96 points or 0.1 percent at 2,035.09.

Traders have seemed somewhat reluctant to make significant moves ahead of Yellen's remarks to the Economic Club of New York beginning at about 12:20 pm ET.

Yellen's speech on the economic outlook and monetary policy could shed some additional light on the outlook for interest rates.

Recent remarks by Fed officials have increased speculation that the Fed could raise interest rates at its next meeting in April.

In a speech in Singapore early this morning, San Francisco President John Williams said he sees continued economic growth in the U.S. and shrugged off concerns about the global situation.

"Growth expectations may be slightly tempered, but that's a far cry from the triage bay we were in eight years ago," Williams said.

"My view is essentially, let's just stay on track," he added. "Let's not get sidelined by the noise and distraction commentary can sometimes cause."

On the U.S. economic front, the Conference Board released a report this morning showing a rebound in consumer confidence in the month of March.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index climbed to 96.2 in March from an upwardly revised 94.0 in February.

Sector News

Mirroring the performance seen in the previous session, most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves in mid-day trading.

Oil service stocks are seeing substantial weakness, however, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index plunging by 2.9 percent. With the drop, the index has fallen to its lowest intraday level in almost a month.

The weakness in the oil service sector comes as the price of crude oil for May delivery is tumbling $1.25 to $38.14 a barrel.

The price of crude oil is moving lower for the sixth time in the past seven sessions after reaching its highest levels of 2016.

Banking and steel stocks are also seeing some weakness in mid-day trading, while strength has emerged among gold and software stocks.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slipped by 0.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 1.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line, but the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.9 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are seeing modest strength ahead of Yellen's highly anticipated speech. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.1 basis points at 1.849 percent.