U.S. Stocks Rise Slightly Ahead Of Earnings
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks little changed and mixed on Tuesday, as investors braced themselves for the first-quarter earnings season, which kicks off with results from aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. after the close.
The market is "a bit cautious as we enter into the earning season," said Robert Pavlik, chief investment officer at Oaktree Asset Management.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 7 points at 12,562, with 14 of its 30 components advancing.
The S&P 500 index gained 1.3 points to 1,445, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 3.9 points to 2,473.
Among blue chips, Alcoa dropped 0.3% before its results after the close. Alcoa was the best performing Dow component during the first quarter, and analysts expect the company to have reported a rise in adjusted earnings per share.
Citigroup rose 1% ahead of a presentation on Wednesday on job cuts. The New York Times reported that the bank will cut or reassign 26,000 positions.
Among technology shares, Applied Materials Inc. rose 2.4% after being upgraded to buy from neutral at Banc of America Securities, which cited the company's move into the solar-power equipment market.
But hard-disk maker Seagate Technology fell 8.2% after warning that fiscal third-quarter revenue will be about $2.8 billion, down from an early forecast of $2.9 billion to $3 billion.
In the broad market for equities, there were 234 million shares exchanging hands on the New York Stock Exchange and 358 million trading on the Nasdaq stock market. Advancing issues outpaced decliners by 19 to 9 on the NYSE and by 16 to 9 on the Nasdaq.
By sector, metals miners , oil services , biotechnology and internet led the gains, while technology hardware and airlines fell.
U.S. stocks finished mostly flat on Monday, save for the railroad sector, which rallied on Warren Buffett's disclosure of a 10.9% stake in Burlington Northern Santa Fe. The Dow industrials rose 8.9 points, the Nasdaq Composite lost 2 points and the S&P 500 rose 0.9 of a point.
Merger news
While merger news continued on Tuesday, new developments cast a shadow of doubt on Monday's big story. Dow Chemical said it's not interested in a leveraged buyout offer. The U.K. tabloid The Sunday Express had reported that a group of companies were prepping a $50 billion buyout. Dow fell 2.3%, giving up some its 5% gains on Monday.
Elsewhere, Imperial Tobacco's second offer for Spanish-French cigarette maker Altadis was rejected. The new bid was valued at 12 billion euros ($16 billion).
Cemex lifted its bid for Australian building materials group Rinker by 22% to $15.3 billion.
Nike could attract attention after France's PPR offered $7.1 billion for rival sneaker maker Puma.
Other markets
There's not too much on the economic release docket.Fed Governor Frederic Mishkin in prepared remarks did not discuss current economic conditions or monetary policy challenges. His speech, however, emphasized that fighting inflation is the chief task of a central bank.
Treasury bonds rose, recovering from two days of heavy losses sparked by a stronger than expected jobs report on Friday. The benchmark 10-year Treasury bond was up 5/32 at 99 6/32, yielding 4.718%.
Crude-oil futures rose 53 cents to $62.03 a barrel
The dollar fell 0.6% against the euro and was down slightly against the yen. The Bank of Japan as expected held interest rates at 0.5%.
Gold received a lift from both rising oil and a falling dollar, rising $8.10 to $685.10 an ounce.
By Nick Godt