Wall Street sputters to mixed finish

NEW YORK: US stocks sputtered to a mixed finish Tuesday as fears about rising interest rates hampering the economic recovery muted the impact of upbeat news from the tech and banking sectors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.40 points (0.04 per cent) to 8,761.09 at the closing bell after a choppy session that saw swings in and out of positive territory. The Nasdaq composite rose a solid 17.73 points (0.96 per cent) to 1,860.13 and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index edged up 3.03 points (0.32 per cent) to a preliminary close of 942.17 The market reacted cooly to a decision allowing 10 major US banks to repay the Treasury US$68 billion for capital injections made to stabilise the financial system.

Analysts had seen this as another sign of hope for the sector and the economy, which has been reeling from recession since December 2007. The market remained worried Tuesday about rising bond yields that could put pressure on interest rates kept at virtually zero levels to help boost economic activity and jolt the economy from prolonged recession.

“Rising bond yields have become quite a thorn in the side of Wall Street bulls,” said Joseph Hargett of Schaeffer’s Investment Research. “Specifically, many analysts are concerned that the higher yields will increase borrowing costs, thus putting the brakes on any budding economic recovery,” he said. Wall Street’s worry on yields even eclipsed a better-than-expected mid-quarter update from Texas Instruments, a key semiconductor firm. -- AFP