Major Averages Lingering Near The Unchanged Line In Early Trading

(RTTNews) - With traders seemingly reluctant to make any significant moves, stocks are showing a lack of direction in early trading on Friday. The major averages have been bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line after ending the previous session moderately lower.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders are largely staying on the sidelines ahead of the release of a slew of earnings news next week.

Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), JP Morgan (JPM), Intel (INTC), Bank of America (BAC), IBM (IBM), Morgan Stanley (MS), and General Electric (GE) are among the big-name companies due to report their quarterly results next week.

Meanwhile, traders have largely shrugged off the release of quarterly results from Wells Fargo (WFC), the first major U.S. bank to report its quarterly results this earnings season.

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

While some strength is visible among internet and gold stocks, natural gas and oil service stocks have moved to the downside.

Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. The Nasdaq is up 10.58 points or 0.2 percent at 4,406.79, while the Dow is down 14.19 points or 0.1 percent at 16,900.88 and the S&P 500 is down 0.64 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 1,964.04.