Major Averages Settle Flat After Choppy Ride

(RTTNews) - The U.S. market turned in a mixed performance on Tuesday with investors mostly making stock specific moves, reacting to quarterly earnings updates and digesting the latest economic data.

Investors also assessed the outlook for interest rates and looked to more earnings and data for clarity about the state of the economy.

The major averages all ended little changed from their previous closing levels. The Dow ended lower by 10.55 points or 0.03 percent at 33,976.63. The S&P 500 edged up 3.55 points or 0.09 percent to 4,154.87, and the Nasdaq settled at 12,153.41, down 4.31 points or 0.04 percent.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said today that he favored continued interest-rate hikes to counter persistent inflation. Bullard said recession fears are overblown.

"Wall Street's very engaged in the idea there's going to be a recession in six months or something, but that isn't really the way you would read an expansion like this," Bullard told Reuters in an interview published Tuesday.

On the economic front, data from the Commerce Department showed U.S. housing starts slid by 0.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.420 million in March from a revised rate of 1.432 million in February.

Economists had expected housing starts to decline to a rate of 1.400 million from the 1.450 million originally reported for the previous month.

The data also showed building permits plunged by 8.8 percent to a rate of 1.413 million in March from a revised rate of 1.550 million in February.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, were expected to fall to a rate of 1.441 million from the 1.524 million originally reported for the previous month.

In earnings news, Bank of America reported higher than expected revenue and earnings for the first quarter. The company's first-quarter earnings totaled $7.66 billion, or $0.94 per share. This compares with $6.60 billion, or $0.80 per share, in last year's first quarter. The stock gained about 0.6 percent.

Goldman Sachs' first-quarter net earnings applicable to common shareholders fell 19 percent to $3.09 billion from $3.83 billion last year. Earnings per share were $8.79, down 18 percent from prior year's $10.76. The stock drifted down 1.7 percent.

Johnson & Johnson's results beat market expectations, but the company still reported a net loss due to a one-time charges related to talc liabilities and the company spinning off its consumer health business. J&J shares ended down 2.8 percent.

Netflix ended modestly higher after reporting first-quarter earnings of $1.31 billion, or $2.88 per share, compared with $1.6 billion, or $3.53 per share a year ago.

United Airlines Holdings reported a loss of $0.19 billion for the first quarter, compared with a loss of $1.38 billion in the year-ago quarter. The stock gained more than 1.5 percent in the session.

Boeing, Home Depot, JP Morgan, Salesforce.com, Apple, McDonalds and American Express closed higher.

Verizon, Intel, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Microsoft ended weak.

In overseas trading, Asian markets ended mixed on Tuesday despite China's GDP data surprising with a more than expected growth in the first quarter.

The Chinese economy grew 4.5 percent in the first quarter versus 2.9 percent in the previous period and expectations of a growth of 4 percent. Anxieties about global growth and monetary tightening dampened sentiment.

European stocks closed higher with upbeat economic data from China, some stronger-than-expected earnings updates from U.S. companies, and a couple of acquisition news help underpinning sentiment.