US stocks have finished with modest gains as investors look ahead to Thursday’s congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 18.75 points (0.12 per cent) on Wednesday to 16,198.41.
The broad-based S&P 500 finished flat, up 0.04 points at 1,845.16, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 4.48 (0.10 per cent) at 4,292.06.
Analysts said investors were looking ahead to Yellen’s testimony at a Senate panel following a stream of mostly disappointing economic data blamed in part on unusually cold weather.
The S&P 500 again flirted with a new peak, but failed to clinch a record.
“We’ve seen a very powerful rally for the S&P 500,” said David Levy, portfolio manager at Kenjol Capital Management. “What we’re waiting for is a catalyst to drive the market higher.”
Levy said the day’s data showing a big jump in new-home sales in January, while positive, was already “priced in” to stocks.
Retailer Target shot up 7.0 per cent on fiscal fourth-quarter net earnings of $US1.30 ($A1.45) per share that came in at the high end of the company’s forecast range.
However, profit fell 45.9 per cent from a year ago and the company said 2014 earnings would be weighed down by costs relating to a giant data breach.
Strong earnings and an expanded share buyback program from home improvement chain Lowes pushed its shares up 5.4 per cent.
EBay gained 2.1 per cent as the online marketplace engaged in a fresh war of words with activist investor Carl Icahn following Icahn’s call two days ago for eBay to spin off its PayPal subsidiary.
First Solar tumbled 9.1 per cent on a big earnings miss. Quarterly profits came in at 89 US cents per share, 10 cents shy of expectations. Revenues also underperformed.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.67 per cent from 2.70 per cent late on Tuesday, while the 30-year dec lined to 3.63 per cent from 3.66 per cent.