U.S. Stocks Close Flat After Cautious Session; Nasdaq Outperforms

(RTTNews) - U.S. stocks closed slightly higher on Wednesday after a somewhat sluggish session as investors made cautious moves while awaiting the release of personal consumption expenditures price index report, due on Friday.

Data on first quarter GDP, durable goods orders for the month of May, and jobless claims report are also due this week.

The major averages all closed on the positive side. Technology stocks outperformed, lifting the Nasdaq by 87.5o points or 0.49 percent, to 17,805.16. The Dow ended up by 15.64 points or 0.04 percent at 39,127.80, while the S&P 500 settled at 5,477.60, gaining 8.60 points or 0.16 percent.

Bank stocks were in focus ahead of the central bank's annual stress test. Shares of energy firms struggled a bit due to sluggish oil prices.

Amazon rallied about 4 percent, and the surge lifted the stock's market cap past $2 trillion.

Apple Inc, Tesla Inc., Walmart, Home Depot, United Parcel Service and Boeing gained 1 to 4 percent.

Automatic Data Processing shares dropped more than 4 percent. Dell Technologies, Analog Devices, Pfizer, Morgan Stanley, Amgen, Cisco Systems, Qualcomm, Chevron, Advanced Micro Devices and Merck lost 1 to 3 percent.

On the economic front, a report released by the Commerce Department showed new home sales in the U.S. saw a substantial decrease in the month of May, plunging by 11.3 percent to an annual rate of 619,000, after jumping by 2.0 percent to a revised rate of 698,000 in April.

Economists had expected new home sales to rise to an annual rate of 640,000 from the 634,000 originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, building permits in the U.S. fell by 2.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.399 million in May, revised higher from a preliminary estimate of 1.386 million.

In overseas trading, Asian stocks ended mostly higher on Wednesday as a rebound in tech stocks helped offset hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials.

Amid much uncertainty about the interest-rate outlook, investors braced for the release of key U.S. inflation reading, due later this week for directional cues.

European stocks failed to hold early gains and drifted lower on Wednesday as investors chose to lighten commitments ahead of some crucial economic data from the U.S., including a report on personal income & spending, and amid uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.