North American stocks are drifting in a narrow, mixed range at midday Tuesday, as the day's economic reports and uninspiring news flow have failed to provide investors with any fresh direction following Monday's strong gains.
Shortly after noon ET, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 30 points at 11,897. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 23 points at 10,561, the S&P 500 was up 2 points at 1,135, and the Nasdaq composite index was steady at 2,308.
After triple-digit gains Monday in the first trading session of the year, stock markets and commodities have stabilized, with little new to inspire investors in either direction.
On the economic front, the day's U.S. indicators were mixed. Pending home sales tumbled a surprising 16 per cent in November, snapping a string of nine straight months of increases. But November factory orders were up 1.1 per cent from October, more than double what economists had expected.
Stocks gyrated when both reports came out at 10:00 a.m. ET, but quickly stabilized and have since been drifting in a narrow trading range.
In Canada, November producer prices, released before the opening bell, were higher than expected, with industrial-product prices up 1.0 per cent and raw-materials prices up 2.2 per cent month-over-month. But the data garnered little reaction in the markets.
Only four of Toronto's 10 sector sub-indexes are up on the day, but they include the heavily weighted materials index, up 1.9 per cent. Telecom stocks are off 1.3 per cent to lead the downside.
European bourses closed mixed. London's FTSE 100 index rose 0.4 per cent, while Germany's DAX lost 0.3 per cent.
Crude oil is steady at $81.52 (U.S.) a barrel in New York. Gold is up $5.20 at $1,123.50 an ounce.
The Canadian dollar is up a third of a cent at 96.35 cents (U.S.).