(RTTNews) - Stocks have pared back some of their earlier losses in mid-afternoon trading on Tuesday, as the release of relatively unchanged commentary from the Federal Open Market Committee prompted some buying interest.

The latest Fed minutes indicated essentially no change in the central bank’s economic outlook, pointing to some signs of life in the economy while continuing to stress the difficulties visible in the labor market that are likely to continue to limit near-term economic growth.

This morning, stocks moved lower amid trader reaction to the Commerce Department’s downward revision to the pace of GDP growth in the third quarter. The adjustment was slightly sharper economists had anticipated, although the data continued to show growth in the economy.

Further, Standard and Poor’s said that home prices in the twenty major metropolitan areas in the U.S. decreased at a slower annual rate in the month of September, but the pace of decline was still slightly faster than forecast.

Stocks continued to tread in the red despite a Conference Board report showing an unexpected improvement in consumer confidence in the month of November, with the increase coming as consumers were less pessimistic about the outlook for business conditions and employment.

In corporate news, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Brocade Communications (BRCD) and Medtronic (MDT) were among the firms to release their quarterly results, with the stocks currently seeing mixed reaction to the data.

The major averages have continued to move to the upside in the past few minutes, although they currently remain modestly below the unchanged line. The Dow is currently down 10.21 at 10,440.74, the Nasdaq is down 8.36 at 2,167.65 and the S&P 500 is down 0.20 at 1,106.04.

Dow Components

A slim majority of the Dow components are trading in the red, helping to keep the blue chip index in negative territory.

JP Morgan Chase (JPM) is one of the worst performers in the Dow, falling by 1.9 percent. With the loss, the stock has more than offset yesterday’s gain, looking to close at a three week low.

Hewlett Packard is also moving lower, posting a loss of 1.4 percent, although it remains in a recent range. The decline comes despite the firm’s better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings report, as traders are doing some profit taking following the stock’s recent upswing.

Alcoa (AA), Boeing (BA) and Merck (MRK) are also moving lower, while Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) are up by 1.9 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively. Shares of the communications giants are poised to set fresh multi-month closing highs.

Sector News

Housing and commercial real estate stocks continue to show notable weakness in mid-afternoon trading, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index and the Morgan Stanley REIT Index down by 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Computer hardware stocks are also moving lower, puling the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down by 1.2 percent. The index is offsetting part of yesterday’s gain.

While brokerage, transportation, and software stocks also continue to post notable losses, biotechnology stocks have been able to build on their earlier gains, with the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index now up by 1.9 percent.

In Focus: Economic News

As mentioned above, the Commerce Department reported that GDP increased by an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the third quarter compared to the 3.5 percent growth that had been reported last month. Economists had been expecting the pace of GDP growth to be revised down to about 2.9 percent.

Separately, Standard & Poor’s said that the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index fell at an annual rate of 9.4 percent in September compared to an 11.3 percent decrease in August. Economists had been expecting prices to decrease at a 9.1 percent annual rate.

Meanwhile, the Conference Board revealed that its consumer confidence index rose to 49.5 in November from an upwardly revised 48.7 in October. The increase surprised economists, who had expected the index to edge down to 47.5 from the 47.7 originally reported for the previous month.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region closed mostly lower on Tuesday, with Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Index falling by 1 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 1.5 percent.

The major European markets also moved moderately lower, with the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index and German DAX Index both falling by 0.6 percent while the French CAC 40 Index lost 0.8 percent.

In the bond markets, treasuries are moving higher following the strong results of today’s five-year note auction. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is trading at 3.330 percent, posting a loss of 3.4 basis points.

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Posted in Categories: Economy, Eurozone, Japan, Releases, UK, USA.

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