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US stocks little changed, GE sells assets

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

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.51 points (0.01 per cent) to 17,764.04 on Tuesday, while the broad-based S&P 500 added 0.87 (0.04 per cent) at 2,080.15.

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.

He said that surging US Treasury yields, reflecting the expectation of higher interest rates, had traders on edge.

“If these rates keep going up, I think you’re going to get some real concerns about stocks.”

Dow member GE gained 0.3 per cent as it announced the sale of a pair of finance assets to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for $US12 billion ($A15.59 billion).

Southwest Airlines tumbled 4.2 per cent as it reported that passenger revenue per available mile fell six per cent in May from a year ago, due to weaker-than-expected economic growth.

But American Airlines gained 1.2 per cent and United Continental rose 1.6 per cent, with both stocks rallying from early losses on Tuesday and big declines on Monday.

General Motors added 0.8 per cent as chief executive Mary Barra rebuffed talk of a potential merger with Fiat Chrysler.

Barra confirmed that the company received an overture from Fiat Chrysler chief Sergio Marchionne, but said GM was well positioned for growth as a free-standing company.

Dow member Procter & Gamble rose 1.5 per cent following reports that the company was close to deals with various buyers to sell billions of dollars worth of beauty assets.

P&G is divesting about 100 brands in an effort to focus on best-selling products.

Netflix bolted 3.2 per cent higher on news of a deal with actor Brad Pitt to release his next movie, War Machine, exclusively on Netflix and in select theatres next year.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.43 per cent from 2.38 per cent on Monday, while the 30-year advanced to 3.16 per cent from 3.11 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.