Major Averages Remain Nearly Flat In Mid-Day Trading

(RTTNews) - With traders seemingly reluctant to make any significant moves, stocks continue to show a lack of direction in mid-day trading on Tuesday. The choppy trading comes on the heels of the upward move seen over the past week.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street comes as traders have largely moved to the sidelines after recent gains lifted the tech-heavy Nasdaq to new record highs.

Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, contributing to the lack of direction being shown by the broader markets.

Utilities stocks continue to see considerable weakness, however, with the Dow Jones Utilities Average falling by 1.3 percent. CenterPoint Energy (CNP), Exelon (EXC), and NiSource (NI) are posting notable losses.

Semiconductor and trucking stocks are seeing more modest weakness, while some strength is visible among banking and brokerage stocks.

Currently, the major averages are lingering near the unchanged line. While the Nasdaq is down 3.23 points or 0.1 percent at 5,150.74, the Dow is up 11.28 points or 0.1 percent at 18,131.06 and the S&P 500 is up 0.08 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 2,122.93.