Stocks held close to their starting positions on Monday in midday trading, with U.S. indexes holding onto modest gains while commodity producers continued to weigh slightly on Canada's benchmark index.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 18 points or 0.2 per cent, to 12,239. The broader S&P 500 was up 1 point or 0.1 per cent, to 1315.
Telecom services showed the biggest gains, rising 1.7 per cent, while energy stocks rose 0.4 per cent and consumer staples rose 0.3 per cent.
Consumer discretionary stocks fell 0.7 per cent - the only subindex among the 10 in the S&P 500 to show a loss for the day so far - while health-care stocks, utilities and information technology stocks rose 0.1 per cent each.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 42 points or 0.3 per cent, to 13,997.
Among commodity producers, energy stocks fell 0.3 per cent and materials fell 0.9 per cent, after commodity prices declined. Information technology stocks were also weak after Research In Motion continued to wilt following Friday's sharp selloff. However, financials gained 0.2 per cent.