Stocks Finish Choppy Trading Session Modestly Higher - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Following the lackluster performance seen over the past few sessions, stocks continued to show a lack of direction during trading on Tuesday. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the day modestly higher. The Dow climbed 36.43 points or 0.2 percent to 20,949.89, the Nasdaq inched up 3.76 points or 0.1 percent to 6,095.37 and the S&P 500 rose 2.84 points or 0.1 percent to 2,391.17.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about future rate hikes.

The looming monthly jobs report and French presidential runoff may also have kept traders on the sidelines on the day.

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

Airline stocks have shown a strong move to the upside, however, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index jumping by 2.5 percent. Delta (DAL) and United Continental (UAL) posted standout gains.

On the other hand, considerable weakness was visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent loss posted by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. With the drop, the index fell to its lowest closing level in seven months.

The weakness in the oil service sector came amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil, as crude for June delivery tumbled $1.18 to $47.66 a barrel.

Semiconductor stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 1.1 percent.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) fell sharply despite the chipmaker reporting quarterly results that matched analyst estimates.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.7 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both advanced by 0.6 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries moved higher over the course of the session after seeing initial weakness. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 2.9 basis points to 2.296 percent.

Ahead of the release of the Fed announcement on Wednesday, trading may be impacted by reaction to payroll processor ADP's report on private sector employment.

The Institute for Supply Management is also scheduled to release its monthly report on activity in the service sector.

On the earnings front, tech giant Apple (AAPL) is among the companies releasing their quarterly results after the close of today's trading.