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U.S. stocks narrowly mixed midday amid soft data

Xinhua, March 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks narrowly fluctuated in the morning session on Monday, as economic data came out slightly below expectations.

At noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 38.64 points, or 0.21 percent, to 18,166.29. The S&P 500 inched up 2.41 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,110.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 4.43 points, or 0.09 percent, to 5,021.99.

U.S. existing-home sales rose 1.2 percent from 4.82 million in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.88 million in February, missing market consensus of 4.94 million, the National Association of Realtors said on Monday.

"Existing home sales remained below the 5.0 million mark for the second month in a row as the housing market fails to find sustained strength thus far in the recovery. With housing supply tight and homeownership rates remaining near historical lows in Q4 2014, it looks like it will be another year of slow growth for the housing market," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, investors were still keeping a close eye on the U.S. dollar, which had witnessed big swings recently. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.60 percent around midday Monday.

Some analysts say the surging dollar is one of the biggest headwinds faced by U.S. multinational corporations, since their earnings have been squeezed by the strengthening greenback.

U.S. stocks jumped Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite Index closing at a 15-year high, as investors continued to embrace the dovish Fed comments amid the falling dollar. Endite