Stocks trade mixed on 1-year anniversary of low

NEW YORK – Stocks are trading in a tight range, a year after major market indexes hit 12-year lows.

With little in the way of economic reports or earnings to help drive shares higher, investors are taking a breather Tuesday. Technology shares are higher and financial stocks are lower.

Investors are searching for the next driver of stocks on the one-year mark since the Dow Jones industrial average hit a 12-year low. It's up 61.2 percent since then.

At midday, the Dow is up 20 at 10,574. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 3 at 1,141. The Nasdaq composite index is up 9 at 2,341.

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NEW YORK (AP) — A year after major stock indexes tumbled to 12-year lows, investors are still asking what will lift the market higher.

A year ago, the questions were more urgent as the Dow Jones industrial average skidded to 6,547. Back then, investors just wanted something to prop up the market and halt the selling.

Now, with stocks up so much in a year, traders want to know what it might take to keep the market going. The only thing that is certain is that the second year of the market's recovery will be tougher.

Another day of quiet trading Tuesday made clear that investors are still searching for something to drive buying. Stocks fluctuated in a tight range as technology shares rose and financial stocks fell.

The Dow rose 15 points in late morning trading. It's up 61.2 percent since March 9 last year.
The gains of the past year were so big that a break for the market is a good thing, analysts say. But as the Dow trades within 2 percent of a 15-month high set in January, the question remains whether stocks can push higher or whether they will start sliding.

When stocks were so low a year ago, the early gains were easiest because prices were so low. Now, the gains will be harder to come by.

"The character of the market changes from a market where everyone who buys a ticket wins to much more of a discerning stock-pickers market," said Lawrence Creatura, portfolio manager at Federated Clover Investment Advisors.

In late morning trading, the Dow rose 15.19, or 0.1 percent, to 10,567.71. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.69, or 0.2 percent, to 1,140.19, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 7.73, or 0.3 percent, to 2,339.94.

Bond prices rose, pushing yields lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.71 percent from 3.72 percent late Monday.

The dollar rose against other major currencies, while gold fell.

Crude oil fell 83 cents to $81.04 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In corporate news, Merck & Co. and Sanofi-Aventis SA said they are combining their animal health businesses. The joint business will control about 29 percent of the $19 billion market for pet and livestock medicines. Merck fell 41 cents to $36.94, while Sanofi fell 5 cents to $38.10.

Major indexes were narrowly mixed on Monday. The Dow dipped 14 points. The uneven trading came as investors saw no big reasons to move the market in either direction. It also came one trading day after the Labor Department said the employers cut fewer jobs in February than expected, which helped the market charge higher Friday.

While the report was better than expected, investors are likely to stay cautious until they see actual job growth. High unemployment remains a major stumbling block to a sustained economic recovery.

Advancing stocks narrowly outpaced those that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 311.3 million shares, compared with 298.9 million traded at the same point Monday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.94, or 0.3 percent, to 669.05.
In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 slipped less than 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.1 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.1 percent. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei stock average dipped 0.2 percent.