Wall St flat, defensives counter tech drag

By Ellis Mnyandu

PepsiCo Inc led advancers on the S&P 500 with a gain of more than 4 percent, after the soft drink and snack maker posted an operating profit in line with Wall Street's estimates.

"I think we're bouncing off the lows, and there's a contrarian reaction to the level of negative sentiment," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management in Bedford Hills, New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 9.67 points, or 0.08 percent, at 12,190.43. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.71 points, or 0.05 percent, at 1,327.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 4.79 points, or 0.21 percent, at 2,273.96.

Analysts said some investors were also encouraged by a report on December pending home sales, while worse than expected, prove to be not as bad as some had feared.