Wall Street little changed, held back by Wal-Mart

By Sweta Singh

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange May 18, 2015.

Reuters/Brendan McDermid

U.S. stocks were little changed on Tuesday, constrained by Wal-Mart's weak results and as investors took a breather after a rally that took the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 to record closing highs the previous day.Stronger-than-expected housing data also suggested that the Federal Reserve could have room to raise interest rates sooner rather than later.
U.S. housing starts jumped to their highest level in nearly 7-1/2 years in April and permits soared.

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A stream of weak economic data through last week suggested that Fed would wait to see more strength in the economy before raising rates.
Global stock markets jumped and the dollar rose on signals the European Central Bank may accelerate its 1 trillion euro bond-buying program over the next two months.
"I definitely think the markets are overvalued at this time but it's the only place where the capital is going," said Drew Horter, founder of
Horter Investment Management in Cincinnati, Ohio.
"You have to be very careful in this market and there could be some pullback."
Six of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were down, with the energy index .SPNY weighing the most with a 1.23 percent fall. Schlumberger (SLB.N) fell 2.76 percent, making it the biggest drag on the index.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday as the dollar strengthened and on evidence of ample supplies of Middle Eastern oil despite wars in northern Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
At 11:29 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 23.96 points, or 0.13 percent, at 18,322.84, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 0.69 points, or 0.03 percent, at 2,129.89 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 4.02 points, or 0.08 percent, at 5,074.42.
Wal-Mart's (WMT.N) shares fell 4.09 percent to $76.65 and were the biggest drag on the Dow and the S&P 500 after the company reported lower-than-expected U.S. same-store sales growth.
Home Depot (HD.N) was down 0.7 percent at $113.48 after the company reported quarterly results.
TJX Cos (TJX.N) rose 4 percent to $69.96 after it reported a 6 percent rise in quarterly sales.
Urban Outfitters (URBN.O) was down 16.7 percent at $33.91 after it reported quarterly sales that fell short of market estimates.
Take-Two Interactive (TTWO.O) rose 15 percent to $21.89 after its profit handily beat market estimates, helped by strong digital sales of "Grand Theft Auto V" and "NBA 2K15" titles.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,899 to 1,034, for a 1.84-to-1 ratio on the downside. On the Nasdaq, 1,537 issues fell and 1,069 advanced for a 1.44-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.
The S&P 500 index posted 37 new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 90 new highs and 31 new lows.