NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
U.S. stocks closed barely changed Tuesday, after see-sawing on both sides of breakeven throughout the session as investors took in the discovery of a poisonous substance in a U.S. Senate mail room and looked to Cisco's earnings, released just after the close
The Nasdaq composite (up 3.06 to 2066.21, Charts), the Dow Jones industrial average (up 6.00 to 10505.18, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 0.77 to 1136.03, Charts) index all closed just above unchanged.
After the close of trade, Cisco Systems (CSCO: Research, Estimates) reported a fiscal second-quarter profit of 18 cents per share, up from 14 cents a year earlier and a penny more than what analysts surveyed by First Call were expecting. However, shares fell in after-hours trade, with some analysts looking for the company to offer even more bullish results.
Stocks have drifted lower for the last two weeks as investors have sought to digest the batch of mostly upbeat fourth-quarter earnings, and to determine whether earnings forecasts seem to justify an extension of Wall Street's nearly year-long rally.
"The earnings reports and outlooks have been fairly positive, but I think trade has been kind of muddled recently, with the market wanting to give itself room to breathe after the big run it's had," said Michael Carty, principal at New Millennium Advisors.
Before the open Wednesday, reports are due from Janus Capital (JNS: Research, Estimates) and Northrop Grumman (NOC: Research, Estimates) among others. But those earnings aren't often big market-movers.
Of more interest will be economic reports on factory orders and the services sector of the economy, due for release just after the opening bell.
Factory orders are forecast to have risen 0.2 percent in December after falling 1.4 percent in November. The Institute for Supply Management's services sector report is expected to have risen to 60.0 in January from 58.0 the previous month. However, the market may not necessarily move on the news, analysts said.
"We have just digested so much news in the last week or so," said Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. "Fourth-quarter earnings have been much better than expected, but you have people reluctant to make big bets ahead of things like the payroll report Friday, or the G7 meeting, which will be important for the dollar."
Finance ministers from the group of seven industrialized nations are set to meet Friday and Saturday and the dollar's weakness is likely to dominate their discussion.
Friday's monthly data is expected to show that the unemployment rate held steady at 5.7 percent in January. Of greater interest will be whether employers added a substantial number of jobs to their payrolls, as has been forecast, or whether that number disappoints, as it did last month.
"We need to see more than the 1,000 jobs added last time," Hogan added. "You want to see closer to 200,000 jobs added."
Tuesday's market
A rise in some of the more heavily-weighted tech stocks on the Nasdaq, such as Intel (INTC: up $1.08 to $31.40, Research, Estimates) and Oracle (ORCL: up $0.27 to $13.91, Research, Estimates), helped keep the composite out of negative territory. Intel, which bounced 3.5 percent, is also a component of the Dow industrials, giving that index a lift, along with Alcoa (AA: up $0.62 to $34.10, Research, Estimates) and Eastman Kodak (EK: up $0.68 to $29.28, Research, Estimates), both of which bounced off recent lows. But the gains were minimal.
Hanging in the background was the discovery of a suspicious white powder found in the mailroom of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, which was determined to be ricin, a highly toxic substance. Most of the Senate complex was shut down, reviving fears of the chemical and biological terrorist attacks, which first surfaced after September 11,2001, with several incidents of anthrax being sent through the mail. (For more on this, go to CNN.com.)
Tyco (TYC: up $0.70 to $27.80, Research, Estimates) rose 2.6 percent in active NYSE trade, after the company reported earnings that grew from a year earlier and topped estimates. The scandal-plagued company's former chairman and chief financial officer have been on trial for months on charges that they stole from the company.
Caterpillar (CAT: down $0.45 to $77.04, Research, Estimates) and other machinery stocks edged lower after Bear Stearns downgraded the sector to "market weight" from "overweight," saying earnings growth could be limited by the increase in the cost of basic materials, and the impact of a rising interest rate environment.
Shares of automakers Ford (F: down $0.23 to $13.72, Research, Estimates) and General Motors (GM: down $0.84 to $47.86, Research, Estimates) continued the decline that started last week and extended into Monday after two high-profile downgrades of Ford's stock. The companies also said Tuesday afternoon that January U.S. vehicle sales fell from a year earlier.
Market breadth was narrowly mixed. On the New York Stock Exchange, where 1.47 billion shares traded, advancing issues barely led decliners. On the Nasdaq, losers beat gainers by eight to seven on volume of 1.80 billion shares.
Treasury prices rose. The yield on the 10-year note fell to 4.10 percent from 4.14 percent late Monday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. The dollar also weakened versus other major currencies.
NYMEX light sweet crude oil futures fell 88 cents to settle at $34.10 a barrel. COMEX gold gained 60 cents to settle at $399.90 an ounce.
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