According to Yahoo News, stocks opened mostly flat on Tuesday as cautious investors assessed signs that the roaring November rally could be overdone. The benchmark S&P 500 dipped around 0.1% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both hugged the flatline after a downbeat close to start the week.
With the end of November in sight, investors are weighing whether a pullback is coming after a red-hot surge that put stocks on course for their best monthly performance in more than a year. Confidence that US interest rates have peaked and the economy is robust has helped the benchmark S&P 500 rise over 8% in November so far. But analysts are seeing signs of the bullishness running out of steam and of potential economic softness as market gains stall.
Investors may well be treading carefully ahead of two key batches of economic data due later this week. Wednesday brings an update on GDP in the third quarter, while Thursday's PCE reading on consumer inflation — the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge — will set expectations for policymakers' next rate move. New data out from The Conference Board on Tuesday showed consumer confidence increased in November. The Conference Board's index jumped to 102.0 in November, up from a downwardly revised 99.1 in October. Despite the improvement, however, the Expectations Index remains below 80 for a third consecutive month—a level that historically signals a recession within the next year, according to The Conference Board.