By Kate Gibson
U.S. stocks finished Tuesday's session with modest gains, helped
by assurances from the Federal Reserve that easy money conditions
would continue.
"We are still in a sweet spot," Doug Roberts, chief investment
strategist for Channel Capital Research, said of an economic
climate that is improving, yet remains too troubled for central
bankers to signal a change in monetary policy.
"Unemployment is the key, it's difficult to raise rates when
unemployment is as high as it is," said Roberts.
Stocks rose to their highest levels of the session after the
release of the minutes from the Fed's last policy-setting meeting,
at which central bankers decided to keep their target lending rate
near 0%.
Fed officials also noted signs of a strengthening economy along
with ongoing troubled spots, namely the weak labor market. .
Yet equities resumed treading water in the final half hour of
trade, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) ended down 3.56
points at 10,969.99.
Shares of aluminum giant Alcoa (AA), up 2%, led gainers among
blue-chips, while Travelers (TRV) led decliners, losing 1.4% after
an analyst downgraded the insurer's stock.
The S&P 500 index (SPX) rose 2.0 points, or 0.2%, to
1,189.44. The financials sector led the gains on the broad index,
rising 1%.
"Thirty-three percent of the S&P 500 moves with commodity
prices, and today we got a decoupling of the currency-commodity
relationship," Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies
& Co.
For much of the past year, commodities moved in the opposite
direction of the U.S. dollar. But on Tuesday, oil, gold and the
dollar all rose.
Crude futures gained 22 cents to end at $86.84 a barrel, while
gold futures advanced more than $2 to $1,136 an ounce.
The dollar index (DXY), which contrasts the greenback against
six currency rivals, was up 0.4% at 81.39, while Treasurys advanced
after the government's sale of $40 billion in 3-year notes.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) rose 7.28 points,
or 0.3%, to 2,436.81.
Dampening enthusiasm in the technology sector, CA Inc. (CA)
shares fell 1.9% after the maker of business software said it would
cut about 1,000 jobs and forecast 2010 results would be at the low
end of its forecast.
Shares of Massey Energy Co. (MEE) fell 11% after a blast on
Monday left at least 25 miners dead at one of the company's sites
in West Virginia. .
Advancers edged ahead of decliners on the New York Stock
Exchange, where more than 940 million shares exchanged hands.
Composite volume stood at 4.2 billion shares.