NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
U.S. stocks struggled for direction Wednesday, closing the session with negligible gains, as investors digested ho-hum comments from Intel's chairman and other mixed corporate news.
The Nasdaq composite (up 5.83 to 1396.59, Charts), Dow Jones industrial average (up 14.88 to 8589.14, Charts) and Standard & Poor's 500 index (up 0.51 to 904.96, Charts) all closed up, if just barely. All three indexes had traded on both sides of breakeven throughout the session.
"It felt directionless most of the day," Kenneth Polcari, managing director at Polcari/Weicker told CNNfn's Street Sweep. "The sense is that we're in a technical trading range and that's where we're gonna stay unless something really significant comes up."
After the close of trade, consumer products maker Procter & Gamble (PG: down $0.19 to $87.46, Research, Estimates), a Dow component, issued improved second-quarter earnings guidance.
On Thursday, investors will take in economic reports on weekly jobless claims, November retail sales, and November import and export prices.
The Dow had closed higher for eight weeks in a row from October through early December, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 had closed higher for three weeks, before all three indexes closed lower last week. This week, markets have shifted in volatile trade.
Gains in shares of some of the more heavily weighted tech stocks on the Nasdaq Wednesday competed with weakness in telecom and other sectors, leaving the composite mixed. The Dow was fairly rangebound, with few of its 30 blue-chip issues moving by more than a dollar in either direction.
Intel's chairman cautious
Shares of Intel (INTC: up $0.03 to $18.16, Research, Estimates) were active and volatile after the No. 1 chipmaker's chairman, Andy Grove, made some discouraging comments at an industry conference, saying it may be too early to call a rebound in the computer chip sector, despite recent industry outlooks showing an upturn.
Setting an ominous tone to the infrequent technology initial public offering market, disk drive maker Seagate Technology (STX: Research, Estimates) was the most active issue on the New York Stock Exchange in its first day of trade, and was substantially lower after seeing its initial public offering priced below underwriters' target range.
Shares of Honeywell (HON: up $0.59 to $24.81, Research, Estimates) gained on news that the company was near to a deal settling a number of its asbestos suits.
Shares of Nokia (NOK: down $0.46 to $16.97, Research, Estimates) and other wireless stocks declined one session after the cellphone leader said current quarter results will come in below estimates.
In other corporate news, AOL Time Warner (AOL: down $0.10 to $13.65, Research, Estimates), the parent company of CNN/Money, laid off 300 people at its AOL unit. A company source said another round of layoffs was likely early into the new year.
But the ups and downs of company fortunes resulted in little tumult and little change. "It's calm and fairly quiet today, which probably relates to the storm up and down the East Coast, which is keeping a lot of traders home," said Tom Schrader, head of listed trading at Legg Mason. "But everybody has a pretty positive tone. I'd just like to see a little more business,see the volume pick up a little."
Investors also kept on eye on a new spate of geopolitical fears after a Spanish navy vessel, acting on information from U.S. authorities, intercepted a ship carrying 15 Scud missiles on its way from North Korea to Yemen, seizing the cargo.
Yemen claimed ownership of the missiles, which it said it bought earlier, for its defense force. The United States agreed to return the missiles, following confirmation from the Yemeni president that the missiles are only to be used for defense.
Yemen has been a key participant in the United States' "war on terrorism" and U.S. officials had said earlier that they did not think Yemen wanted the missiles for terrorist purposes.
Treasury prices edged higher, pushing the 10-year note yield down to 4.02 percent from 4.06 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was little changed versus the yen and euro.
Light crude oil futures fell 34 cents to $27.40 a barrel in New York. The price of gold gained.
Market breadth was mixed on light volume. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers 8 to 7 as 1.24 billion shares traded. On the Nasdaq, decliners and advancers were pretty evenly split as almost 1.40 billion shares changed hands.
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