Stocks Showing A Lack Of Direction In Early Trading - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks have fluctuated over the course of early trading on Monday as traders slowly return to work following the long Easter weekend. The major averages have been bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

Currently, the major averages are posting modest losses on the day. The Dow is down 19.89 points or 0.1 percent at 17,495.84, the Nasdaq is down 11.70 points or 0.3 percent at 4,761.80 and the S&P 500 is down 3.78 points or 0.2 percent at 2,032.16.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders express some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets.

Stocks gave back some ground in the previous week, snapping a five-week winning streak that lifted the major averages to their best levels in well over two months.

Traders may also be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of some closely watched data in the coming days, including the monthly jobs report on Friday.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is also scheduled to deliver a speech to the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday, potentially shedding some 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.

Before the start of trading, the Commerce Department released a report showing a slightly bigger than expected increase in personal income in the month of February.

The report said personal income rose by 0.2 percent in February after climbing by 0.5 percent in January. Economists had expected income to tick up by 0.1 percent.

The Commerce Department also said personal spending inched up by 0.1 percent in February, matching the downwardly revised uptick seen in the previous month.

The slight increase in spending matched economist estimates, although spending in January was downwardly revised from the originally reported 0.5 percent growth.

A separate report from the National Association of Realtors showed a bigger than expected rebound in pending home sales in February.

NAR said its pending home sales index climbed 3.5 percent to 109.1 in February from a downwardly revised 105.4 in January. Economists had expected the index to increase by about 1.5 percent.

A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.

Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves, although considerable weakness is visible among natural gas stocks. Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index has tumbled by 2.2 percent.

Railroad, biotechnology, gold, and steel stocks have also shown notable moves to the downside in early trading.

In overseas trading, Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.8 percent during trading on Monday, while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.7 percent. Many of the major Asia-Pacific markets were closed for holidays.

Meanwhile, all of the major European markets are closed on the day for Easter Monday holidays.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved mostly higher on the day. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.2 basis points at 1.888 percent.