Stocks trade mixed ahead of Fed’s release of meeting minutes; financials rise, tech falls

Stocks trade mixed as traders look to Fed minutes

NEW YORK — The stock market traded in a tight range Tuesday following a gain in financial shares and a drop in technology companies.

The modest moves came ahead of the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting due out Tuesday afternoon. The Fed kept its key rate at a historic low during the March meeting to help generate growth. Investors are looking for signs of when the Fed might raise rates to stave off a possible jump in inflation.

On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average came within 12 points of reaching the psychological milestone of 11,000 for the first time since September 2008, before the credit crisis peaked.

With little news to go on, most stocks carved only modest moves. Shares of regional banks rose following upbeat comments from analysts. Tech stocks fell after business software company CA Inc. said earnings for the year will come in at the lower end of its forecast. CA also said it would cut 1,000 jobs, or about 8 percent of its work force.

Shares of Massey Energy Co. fell more than 10 percent after an underground explosion Monday afternoon blamed on methane gas killed 25 coal miners about 30 miles south of Charleston, W.Va. Four others were missing Tuesday following the explosion about 1.5 miles from the entrance to Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine. It was the worst U.S. mining disaster since 1984.

Most trading was quiet. The stock market has been rising for 13 months but has made steadier advances since February following reports that signal the economy is slowly improving. There have been few pauses during the recent gains that have seen the Dow rise in each of the past five weeks, its longest winning streak since mid-April last year.

“You’ve got kind of firm legs under the economic rebound which makes firmer legs under the stock market’s rebound,” said Jason D. Pride, direct or investment strategy at Glenmede in Philadelphia.

In early afternoon trading, the Dow fell 12.55, or 0.1 percent, to 10,961.00. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.46, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,187.90. The Nasdaq composite index rose 2.40, or 0.1 percent, to 2,431.93.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.97 percent from 3.99 percent late Monday.

The 10-year yield climbed above 4 percent during trading Monday for the first time since June. It is approaching levels not seen since October 2008.

The Treasury Department auctioned $40 billion in three-year notes on Tuesday. Demand was down slightly from an auction last month.

The dollar rose against other major currencies. Gold rose.

Crude oil fell 20 cents to $86.42 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier reaching an 18-month high of $87.09 a barrel.

Among stocks, Regions Financial rose 36 cents, or 4.4 percent, to $8.55 after Credit Suisse raised its price target on the bank.

Shares of SunTrust Banks Inc. rose after Credit Suisse said foreign banks could see SunTrust as an attractive takeover target. The stock rose 72 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $28.46.

CA shares fell 75 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $23.10.

Massey shares fell $5.77, or 10.6 percent, to $48.92.

Advancing stocks narrowly outpaced those that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a light 426 million shares compared with 395.1 million traded at the same point Monday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 2.19, or 0.3 percent, to 699.84.

Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.3 percent, and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.5 percent. Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.5 percent.