WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have shown a lack of direction over the course
of the trading day on Friday, with the major averages bouncing back and forth
across the unchanged line following the mixed performance seen in the previous
session.

Currently, the major averages are posting modest losses. The Dow is down 36.97
points or 0.1 percent at 39,097.79, the Nasdaq is down 12.10 points or 0.1
percent at 17,709.49 and the S&P 500 is down 8.51 points or 0.2 percent at
5,464.66.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders take a step back to assess
recent activity in the markets, which saw the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reach new
record intraday highs on Thursday before turning lower.

The narrower Dow, on the other hand, saw further upside over the course of
yesterday's trading, ending the day at its best closing level in almost a month.

Traders are also keep an eye on shares of Nvidia (NVDA), as the AI darling has
recently been a key driver of the markets.

Nvidia tumbled by 3.5 percent on Tuesday and is down by another 2.1 percent
today after briefly surpassing Microsoft (MSFT) as the world's most valuable
public company on Tuesday.

On the U.S. economic front, The National Association of Realtors released a
report showing existing home sales in the U.S. decreased roughly in line with
economist estimates in the month of May.

The report said existing home sales slid 0.7 percent to an annual rate of 4.11
million in May after tumbling by 1.9 percent to an annual rate of 4.14 million.
Economists had expected existing home sales to drop to a rate of 4.10 million.

The continued decline by existing home sales came as the median existing-home
price reached a record high $419,300 in May, up 5.8 percent from $396,500 a year
ago.

'Home prices reaching new highs are creating a wider divide between those owning
properties and those who wish to be first-time buyers,' said NAR Chief Economist
Lawrence Yun.

'The mortgage payment for a typical home today is more than double that of homes
purchased before 2020,' he added. 'Still, first-time buyers in the market
understand the long-term benefits of owning.'

A separate report released by the Conference Board showed its reading on leading
U.S. economic indicators fell by more than expected in the month of May.

The Conference Board said its leading economic index decreased by 0.5 percent in
May following a 0.6 percent decline in April. Economist had expected the index
to dip by 0.3 percent.

Sector News

Reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major
sectors are showing only modest moves on the day.

Gold stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside, however, resulting in
a 2.0 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.

The sell-off by gold stocks comes amid a sharp pullback by the price of the
precious metal, with gold for August delivery tumbling $29.80 to $2,339.20 an
ounce.

On the other hand, networking stocks have shown a strong move to the upside,
driving the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 1.0 percent.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly
lower during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged down by 0.1
percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index dipped by 0.2 percent, while Hong
Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled by 1.7 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the downside on the day. While the
French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s
FTSE 100 Index are both down by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved modestly lower over the course of the
session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves
opposite of its price, is up by 1.7 basis points at 4.271 percent.



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