Wall Street little changed in thin trade after mixed data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed in light trading on Tuesday as mixed data gave investors little indication whether Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke might signal more economic stimulus from the Fed when he speaks on Friday.

Bernanke is scheduled to address a conference of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and market participants are waiting to see whether he will announce new measures to boost growth. The Fed chairman is expected to feed expectations for a third round of quantitative easing, though he could keep markets guessing about the timing.

Expectations for more stimulus have risen along with signs of slowing global growth. Japan cut its assessment of its economic expansion, citing a deceleration in U.S. and Chinese demand for its exports.

U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly weakened in August to its lowest in nine months as Americans turned more pessimistic about the short-term outlook, according to the Conference Board.

But in another report, the S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas showed U.S. home prices rose for a fifth consecutive month.

"A mixed bag of economic indicators that sort of point downward; we are all hopeful this leaves some room for the Fed to shower money on us," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer, Harris Private Bank in Chicago.

"Unfortunately a fair amount of stimulus is probably priced in, so we are at a period now where bad news is good news until we hear what (Bernanke) is actually going to do."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> added 5.23 points, or 0.04 percent, to 13,129.90. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> gained 1.51 points, or 0.11 percent, to 1,411.95. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> rose 7.63 points, or 0.25 percent, to 3,080.82.

A day after the lightest volume of the year, trading was again thin. Some 2.3 billion shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq halfway through Tuesday's session. The average daily volume has been 6.56 billion shares traded.

"It's typical late August. Everybody fled, no one gives a darn, volume is low, anything that happens is maybe a little more exaggerated than it should be," said Cummins Catherwood, managing director at Boenning and Scattergood in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

"Maybe there will be an inflection point on Friday, but chances are there may not be anybody there to pay attention to it."

The S&P 500 has been pinned in a fairly tight range over the last three weeks, finding a support level at 1,400 while also unable to convincingly pierce the April high of 1,422.38, which has acted as a resistance point. The index has been unable to muster a move of at least 1 percent in either direction since August 3.

Lexmark International Inc surged 15.9 percent to $22.04 as the biggest percentage gainer on the S&P 500 after it said it would stop making inkjet printers, cut about 1,700 jobs, and focus on its more profitable imaging and software businesses. The NYSEArca computer hardware index <.hwi> rose 1.4 percent.

PVH Corp raised its full-year earnings outlook for the third time this year as it expects its European business to grow and its flagship Tommy Hilfiger brand to remain popular with shoppers. Shares climbed 5.7 percent to $93.52.

Movado Group Inc was up 16.9 percent to $35.19 after hitting an all-time high of $36.11. The watchmaker reported a higher second-quarter profit and raised its full-year earnings forecast for the second time.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-little-changed-thin-trade-mixed-data-153914858--finance.html

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