North American stocks closed mixed but generally flat in directionless trading Tuesday, failing to build on Monday's strong gains, as the day's mixed economic reports and uninspiring news flow failed to capture investors' imaginations.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 21.18 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 11,888.08. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 11.94 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 10,572.02, but the S&P 500 gained 3.53 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 1,136.52, and the Nasdaq composite index inched up 0.29 points to 2,308.
Five of Toronto's 10 sector subindexes rose on the day, led by one of the market's heavyweights, the materials group, up 1.8 per cent. The telecom services group led the decliners, off 1.1 per cent.
After triple-digit gains Monday in the first trading session of the year, foreign stock markets and many key commodities steadied, with little new to give investors fresh direction. However, base metals continued to rise, underpinning the gains in Toronto's materials sector.
The day's U.S. economic indicators were mixed. Pending home sales tumbled a surprising 16 per cent in November, snapping a string of nine straight 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 mid-morning, but quickly stabilized and spent the rest of the day 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 per cent and raw-materials prices up 2.2 per cent, month-over-month. But the data garnered little reaction in the markets.
Crude oil closed up 26 cents (U.S.) at $81.77 a barrel in New York. Gold edged up 60 cents to $1,118.90 an ounce.
The Canadian dollar rose 0.23 of a cent at 96.25 cents (U.S.).
On Wednesday, investors will be watching for the Institute for Supply Management's index of non-manufacturing activity, a key indicator of the strength of the U.S. service-sector economy, which comes out after the market opens. Earlier this week, the ISM's manufacturing index surprised to the upside.
The U.S. Federal Reserve Board is also scheduled to release the minutes of its December monetary-policy meeting, which could provide insight into the Fed's views on the economy and interest rates. And payroll-services firm ADP will issue its monthly employment report, providing a view of the health of the still-struggling U.S. labour market.
Canada has no singificant economic reports scheduled for Wednesday.