U.S. Stocks Roughly Flat In Lackluster Trade Ahead Of Key Data

(RTTNews) - After a weak start, U.S. stocks recovered some lost ground Wednesday afternoon thanks to selective buying at some frontline counters. The mood, however, remains cautious ahead of key economic data, including readings on consumer income & spending.

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

Among the major averages, the Dow was up 19.89 points or 0.05 percent at 39,132.05 a little while ago. The S&P 500 was down 5.38 points or 0.1 percent at 5,463.92, while the Nasdaq was up 20.86 points or 0.11 percent at 17,738.52.

Among the prominent gainers, Apple Inc. is up 2.3 percent. Amazon is climbing about 4 percent, and Tesla is surging nearly 4 percent.

Walmart, Home Depot, Netflix and Boeing are also notably higher.

Automatic Data Processing is down nearly 4 percent. Citigroup, Comcast Corporation, Pfizer, Morgan Stanley, Amgen, Qualcomm, AMD, Chevron, Bank of America and Nvidia are down 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.