LONDON (SHARECAST) - US shares went nowhere today after a combination of comments from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, a strong dollar and weak commodity prices kept buyers largely on the sidelines.
Dow Jones closed one point higher at 10,390. Nasdaq shed 4 at 2,189, while the S&P 500 gave back 2 at 1,103.
Bernanke said it is too soon to say whether the early stage signs of recovery can be sustained, which traders took as a sign that interest rates may stay low for some time yet.
Credit card companies were a bright spot Bank of America has upgraded the sector from underperform to neutral. Shares in American Express, Capital One Financial and Discover Financial Services rose in the morning.
Bad news for chip maker Intel proved positive for its rivals. Intel is behind on the development of its Larrabee graphics chips. Nvidia is the best performer in the S&P 500 and Advanced Micro Devices followed it upwards.
These two firms are the biggest producers of graphics cards. AMD also benefited from a Sanford Bernstein upgrade from underperform to outperform. Shares in Comcast rose after last week’s deal to take a 51% in an entertainment joint venture that includes NBC Universal.
Gold fell again as the dollar rallied. The price fell $28 to $1,141 while oil dropped by nearly $1.50 to under $74 per barrel.
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Boeing Co. (BA) $55.82 +2.08%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $33.25 +1.68%
AT&T Inc. (T) $27.97 +1.34%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $54.93 +1.27%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $68.86 +0.79%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Bank Of America Corp. (BAC) $15.89 -2.40%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $18.06 -2.33%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $57.56 -1.27%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $41.25 -1.17%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $49.21 -1.16%
