US: Stocks little changed as GE sells finance assets

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks finished a choppy session little-changed Tuesday as a big General Electric asset sale offset worries about spiking US treasury yields.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,761.54, down 5.01 points (0.03 per cent), while the broad-based S&P 500 added 0.67 (0.03 per cent) at 2,079.95.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 7.76 (0.15 per cent) to 5,013.87, finishing nearly 40 points above its session lows.

"The stocks were very weak the first hours and then they were able in the midday to stage a pretty good comeback," said Mace Blicksilver, director of Marblehead Asset Management, adding that surging US Treasury yields remained a concern.

"If these rates keep going up, I think you're going to get some real concerns about stocks." Dow member GE gained 0.4 per cent as it announced the sale of a pair of finance assets to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for US$12 billion.

AFP