UWall Street barely budges in muted trade, S stocks were little changed on Wednesday, the third consecutive day of subdued market action as economic data did little to spark investor interest ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech on Friday.
Daily volume so far this week has been low even for a seasonally slow period, with trading levels about 30 percent below the year-to-date average, an indication of how market participants are reluctant to make any major investment moves ahead of the Fed chairman's speech.
Bernanke addresses a conference of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and could announce new measures to boost growth. He is expected to stoke expectations for a third round of quantitative easing, though he may not detail the timing of such a measure.
Further dampening trading activity was the upcoming ECB conference and a host of economic data scheduled for next week, including the payrolls report.
The S&P dipped over the past two sessions, but the decline was less than 0.1 percent on both days. It hasn't closed with a 1 percent move in either direction since Aug. 3.
"We are in the last week of August and we are moving into September which has a number of important news items on its agenda," said Gail Dudack, Chief Investment Strategist at Dudack Research Group in New York.
"I would not be surprised by very low volumes and a lot of action but no traction; it's something to be expected right now."
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 3.10 points, or 0.02 percent, to 13,106.09. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.00 points, or 0.07 percent, to 1,410.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.85 points, or 0.03 percent, to 3,078.00.
The S&P 500 has been pinned in a fairly tight range over the last three weeks, finding support at 1,400 while also unable to convincingly pierce the April high of 1,422.38, which has acted as a resistance point.
Gross domestic product grew 1.7 percent in the second quarter, a rate that was expected, though revised up from last month's 1.5 percent estimate.
"It's the second quarter and most investors are worried about the third and fourth quarters and these numbers looked very much in-line with expectations, I don't see any big surprise in these numbers," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Hugh Johnson Advisors LLC in Albany, New York.
Pending home sales rose 2.4 percent in July, a bigger rise than had been expected and reaching their highest level in more than two years, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Shares of customer reviews website Yelp Inc jumped 18.8 percent to $21.70 for the biggest percentage gain on the New York Stock Exchange on volume 2-1/2 times its 10-day moving average.
WellPoint Inc Chief Executive Angela Braly abruptly stepped down late Tuesday following growing investor dissatisfaction with the health insurer's financial performance. Shares rose 7.5 percent to $61.70.
Joy Global Inc fell 3 percent to $51.50 as one of the worst performers on the S&P 500 after cutting its profit outlook for a second time this year, citing slowing growth in Asia and Europe.
Daily volume so far this week has been low even for a seasonally slow period, with trading levels about 30 percent below the year-to-date average, an indication of how market participants are reluctant to make any major investment moves ahead of the Fed chairman's speech.
Bernanke addresses a conference of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and could announce new measures to boost growth. He is expected to stoke expectations for a third round of quantitative easing, though he may not detail the timing of such a measure.
Further dampening trading activity was the upcoming ECB conference and a host of economic data scheduled for next week, including the payrolls report.
The S&P dipped over the past two sessions, but the decline was less than 0.1 percent on both days. It hasn't closed with a 1 percent move in either direction since Aug. 3.
"We are in the last week of August and we are moving into September which has a number of important news items on its agenda," said Gail Dudack, Chief Investment Strategist at Dudack Research Group in New York.
"I would not be surprised by very low volumes and a lot of action but no traction; it's something to be expected right now."
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 3.10 points, or 0.02 percent, to 13,106.09. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.00 points, or 0.07 percent, to 1,410.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.85 points, or 0.03 percent, to 3,078.00.
The S&P 500 has been pinned in a fairly tight range over the last three weeks, finding support at 1,400 while also unable to convincingly pierce the April high of 1,422.38, which has acted as a resistance point.
Gross domestic product grew 1.7 percent in the second quarter, a rate that was expected, though revised up from last month's 1.5 percent estimate.
"It's the second quarter and most investors are worried about the third and fourth quarters and these numbers looked very much in-line with expectations, I don't see any big surprise in these numbers," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Hugh Johnson Advisors LLC in Albany, New York.
Pending home sales rose 2.4 percent in July, a bigger rise than had been expected and reaching their highest level in more than two years, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Shares of customer reviews website Yelp Inc jumped 18.8 percent to $21.70 for the biggest percentage gain on the New York Stock Exchange on volume 2-1/2 times its 10-day moving average.
WellPoint Inc Chief Executive Angela Braly abruptly stepped down late Tuesday following growing investor dissatisfaction with the health insurer's financial performance. Shares rose 7.5 percent to $61.70.
Joy Global Inc fell 3 percent to $51.50 as one of the worst performers on the S&P 500 after cutting its profit outlook for a second time this year, citing slowing growth in Asia and Europe.