NEW YORK: US stocks were largely flat on Tuesday as investors found little reason to extend a recent rally that put the S&P 500 within a point of an all-time intraday high, though technology shares lifted the Nasdaq.
Markets fluctuated between slight gains and losses, with the S&P on track for its six straight month of gains. Encouraging data on home prices and consumer confidence added to the positive tone. However, a decline in regional business activity underlined growth concerns that remain.
"Even though the overall backdrop isn't overly positive, the market has a strong underlying bid where it wants to go up on earnings and the Federal Reserve having our back with policy," said Michael Mullaney, chief investment officer at Fiduciary Trust Co in Boston.
Apple shares rose 3.1 percent to $443.60 to lead the S&P 500 slightly higher. The iPhone maker came to market with the largest non-bank bond sale in history, as it seeks funding to return cash to shareholders.
US home prices rose in February at their fastest rate in almost seven years while consumer confidence rebounded in April. However, business activity in the US Midwest unexpectedly contracted in April to its lowest level since September 2009.
Any pullback in the market has been viewed as a buying opportunity, traders and analysts said.
"There's more good news than bad news, and the bad news isn't enough to disrupt the uptrend we've been in," said Steve Sosnick, equity-risk manager at Timber Hill/Interactive Brokers Group in Greenwich, Connecticut.
"There's a little bit of complacency in the market, and we would like to see the rally supported by more volume, but that isn't enough to disrupt things on its own."
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 4.38 points, or 0.03 percent, at 14,814.37. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.62 points, or 0.04 percent, at 1,594.23. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 14.79 points, or 0.45 percent, at 3,321.81.
Equities continue to draw support from expectations that central banks will maintain low interest rates and other economic stimulus measures. A statement from the Federal Reserve due Wednesday is expected to keep in place the central bank's pace of bond buying to stimulate the economy.
The European Central Bank will meet on Thursday. A Reuters poll of economists showed policymakers are expected to cut interest rates.
The S&P 500 ended at an all-time high on Monday as growth-oriented stocks, including energy and technology shares, drove the index's sixth rise in the past seven sessions.
A positive finish to April would deliver a sixth straight month of gains. That would be the longest winning streak since September 2009, when the S&P 500 rallied for seven straight months. The broad market index is up 1.6 percent for the month, and up about 12 percent so far in 2013.
The size and speed of the market's gains so far this year have some analysts suggesting a correction could be in the works.
"If the market continues at the pace it has been at, we'll end 2013 with gains of 43 percent; there's no way that will happen," said Mullaney, who helps oversee about $9.5 billion. "That means we'll either pull back or trade sideways for an extended period. Our bet is that we'll see weakness this summer."
Pfizer shares weighed on the Dow industrials after the drugmaker posted lower-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue, and trimmed its full-year profit outlook. Its stock fell 3.6 percent to $29.32.
With 306 S&P 500 components having reported, 68.6 percent have beaten expectations, over the average since 1994 of 63 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. Only 44 percent of companies have beaten revenue expectations, well under the long-term average of 62 percent.
Best Buy retreated from its ill-fated European expansion by selling its stake in a joint venture to Carphone Warehouse Group for less than half what it paid five years ago. Best Buy jumped 7 percent to $25.88.
Shares of security software maker Symantec Corp dropped 10 percent in a span of a few seconds before trading was halted. Equity traders called the move another single-stock "flash crash," in reference to the May 2010 selloff when the Dow fall more than 600 points in a matter of minutes. Symantec was down 1 percent at $24.35 at midday.
<Center><b><i>Copyright Reuters, 2013</b></i><br></center>
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