U.S. Stocks Turning In Lackluster Performance Ahead Of Christmas

(RTTNews) - Following the wild ride seen last week, stocks are turning in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Monday. While the Dow has slid firmly into negative territory, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have been bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

Currently, the Nasdaq is up 3.37 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 19,575.97, while the S&P 500 is down 15.76 points or 0.3 percent at 5,915.09 and the Dow is down 291.92 points or 0.7 percent at 42,548.34.

A slump by shares of Walmart is weighing on the Dow, with the retail giant tumbling by 2.8 percent. Dow components Salesforce (CRM), Disney (DIS) and Boeing (BA) are also posting notable losses.

The choppy trading being experience by the broader markets comes as traders seem reluctant to make significant moves amid what is likely to be a relatively quiet week due to the Christmas Day holiday on Wednesday.

The markets are also scheduled to close earlier than usual for Christmas Eve on Tuesday, leading to below average trading activity.

Uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets may also be keeping some traders on the sidelines following the volatility seen last week.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods slumped by much more than expected in the month of November.

The report said durable goods orders tumbled by 1.1 percent in November after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.8 percent in October.

Economists had expected durable goods orders to fall by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.3 percent increase that had been reported for the previous month.

Excluding a steep drop by orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders edged down by 0.1 percent in November after inching up by 0.2 percent in October. Ex-transportation orders were expected to rise by 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the report said orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a key indicator of business spending, climbed by 0.7 percent in November after dipping by 0.1 percent in October.

A separate report released by the Conference Board showed an unexpected deterioration by consumer confidence in the month of December.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index tumbled to 104.7 in December from an upwardly revised 112.8 in November.

The pullback surprised economists, who had expected the consumer confidence index to rise to 113.0 from the 111.7 originally reported for the previous month.

Sector News

Most of the major sectors are showing only moved modes to the day, contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets.

Gold stocks have shown a significant move to the downside, however, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index falling by 1.5 percent. The weakness in the sector comes amid a decrease by the price of gold.

Notable weakness is also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 1.1 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.

On the other hand, semiconductor stocks have shown a strong move to the upside, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 1.4 percent.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang's Seng Index advanced by 0.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are narrowly mixed on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved back to the downside following the rebound seen last Friday. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 3.6 basis points at 4.560 percent.