September 18, 2012-Stocks Close Showing Lack of Direction

After moving mostly lower over the course of the previous session, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout the trading on Tuesday. The choppy trading came as traders expressed uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets. The major averages eventually ended the day mixed, although they were all nearly flat. While the Dow inched up 11.54 points or 0.1 percent to 13,564.64, the Nasdaq edged down 0.87 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 3,177.80 and the S&P 500 slipped 1.87 points or 0.1 percent to 1,459.32. While profit taking helped to drag stocks lower at the start of trading, selling pressure waned not long after the open as traders seemed reluctant to sell stocks and miss out on any further upside. Uncertainty about the effectiveness of the Federal Reserve's recently announced third round of quantitative easing also helped to keep traders on the sidelines, contributing to the lackluster performance.