By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The S&P 500 ended flat Tuesday, as the humdrum action continued amid a lack of investor conviction to make bets on stocks ahead of inflation numbers that are expected to show the economy is running hot.
The S&P 500 rose 0.02%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.09%, or 30 points, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.31%.
Tech, which is on a three-week winning streak, ended flat as mixed performance in megacap tech despite falling U.S. bond yields and weakness in semiconductors stocks weighed on the sector.
Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) ended mostly in the red.
The move lower in yields comes ahead of the Thursday's consumer inflation report, which many on Wall Street expect to reflect pent-up demand from consumers awash with cash.
Not everyone agrees.
"Consumer balance sheet strength cannot be taken for granted – there are already signs that consumers are balking at the idea of buying cars or furniture as prices rise," Morgan Stanley said in a note.
Energy was among the biggest sector gainers on the day, led by Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG), Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Nov (NYSE:NOV).
Aircraft maker Boeing (NYSE:BA), a major Dow component, was marginally higher after delivering 17 planes in May including 10 737 MAX jets.
Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB), meanwhile, was unable to replicate its surge from a day earlier even as Wall Street analysts upgraded their outlook on the stock after the Food and Drug Administration approved the company’s Alzheimer’s drug on a conditional basis.
Biogen needs to complete a post marketing clinical trial to confirm the drug can improve cognition, the FDA said.
Oppenheimer upgraded its price target on the stock to $450 from $325 prior and maintained its outperform rating, citing expectations for an 80% probability of approval for the drug.
In the meme trade, Clover Health Investments (NASDAQ:CLOV) became the most mentioned stock on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum on Tuesday, according to QuiverQuant, pushing its share price 85% higher.
AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) was flat, while GameStop (NYSE:GME), BlackBerry (NYSE:BB), and Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) traded mixed.