By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Wall Street on Tuesday, with equities holding in a tight range that corresponded with currency fluctuations as traders focused on the dollar's strength and its possible effect on corporate earnings.
The Nasdaq outperformed other major indexes, boosted by a 2.6 percent gain in Google
Data from home sales to inflation and manufacturing indicated the U.S. economy remains strong, but failed to alter expectations of a faster or steeper monetary policy tightening path at the Federal Reserve.
Traders have honed in on how the Fed will react to economic data, as a June interest rate increase remains a possibility. Stocks have been inversely correlated to the U.S. dollar as several companies have given earnings guidance that cited a negative impact from a strong greenback.
"You have central banks lowering rates around the world, while we are talking about raising rates. Our dollar is naturally going to get stronger," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital LLC in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
"Therefore, multinationals are going to whacked."
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 41.2 points, or 0.23 percent, to 18,074.84, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 4.36 points, or 0.21 percent, to 2,100.06 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 2.57 points, or 0.05 percent, to 5,013.54.
The dollar index <.DXY> zigzagged between gains and losses and was recently up 0.12 percent on the day.
Freeport-McMoRan
Whiting Petroleum Corp
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,617 to 1,341, for a 1.21-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,326 issues rose and 1,276 fell for a 1.04-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.
The benchmark S&P 500 was posting 19 new 52-week highs and 1 new low; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 83 new highs and 19 new lows.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Nick Zieminski)