Roundup: U.S. stocks end narrowly mixed amid upbeat data

U.S. stocks closed mixed on Tuesday, as investors were digesting better-than-expected U.S. economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 2.51 points, or 0. 01 percent, to 17,764.04. The S&P 500 added 0.87 point, or 0.04 percent, to 2,080.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 7.76 points, or 0.15 percent, to 5,013.87.

The number of job openings rose to 5.4 million on the last business day of April, beating market consensus of 5.0 million and the highest level since the series began in December 2000, the U.S. Labor Department reported Tuesday.

U.S. total inventories of merchant wholesalers were 576.9 billion U.S. dollars at the end of April, up 0.4 percent from the revised March level, also above market expectations, said the Department of Commerce on Tuesday.

A batch of recent upbeat economic data, however, triggered concerns that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rate sooner rather than later.

Overseas, Greece tabled two supplementary proposals to its international lenders as efforts continued to avert the imminent financial meltdown, government sources in Athens said on Tuesday.

It is reported that the new plan from Athens still failed to impress Brussels as it is "vague" and "insufficient" again.

In corporate news, HSBC will cut costs by as much as 5 billion U.S. dollars within two years, selling its units in Brazil and Turkey and laying off as many as 50,000 staffs, the bank told investors in an anticipated update. Its shares fell 0.78 percent to 47.00 dollars apiece on Tuesday.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, decreased 5.36 percent to end at 14.47 on Tuesday.

In other markets, oil prices gained as market expected another drop in U.S. crude inventories.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery moved up two U.S. dollars to settle at 60.14 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for July delivery increased 2.19 dollars to close at 64.88 dollars a barrel.

The U.S. dollar dropped against most major currencies ahead of the country's closely-watched retail sales report due out Thursday.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1280 dollars from 1.1276 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 124.35 Japanese yen, lower than 124.61 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose as investors waited for economic data to hint at the direction the U.S. central bank might take with regard to interest rates.

The most active gold contract for August delivery went up four dollars, or 0.34 percent, to settle at 1,177.60 dollars per ounce. Endite