Wall Street little changed as focus shifts to Jackson Hole

U.S. stocks struggled for direction late on Thursday morning, as investors remained cautious ahead of the kickoff of the annual gathering of central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Speeches from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Friday will be scrutinized for hints on the path of monetary policy, but neither of them are expected to give fresh guidance.

The central bankers` views will be a change from the past two weeks, when the stock market was roiled by concerns over geopolitics, mayhem in Washington, and President Donald Trump`s controversial comments.

Trump on Wednesday threatened to shut down the government if funds were not secured to build a Mexico border wall, comments that came as a late-September deadline looms for U.S. officials to raise the debt ceiling or risk a default.

"Political uncertainties remain ongoing, valuations are full and, technically, there is some signs of deterioration (in the stock market)," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.

"The backdrop seems favorable for equities to do what we`re seeing this morning and that is sideways trending."

At 10:59 a.m. ET (1449 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 22.33 points, or 0.1 percent, at 21,834.42 and the S&P 500 was up 1.5 points, or 0.06 percent, at 2,445.54.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.81 points, or 0.01 percent, at 6,279.21.

Among stocks, Dollar Tree`s 8.4 percent rise, after a strong quarterly report, gave the biggest boost to the S&P and the Nasdaq.

Signet Jewelers surged about 23 percent after the company issued its results and said it would buy an online jeweler.

While these two stocks were the top percentage gainers on the S&P, Hormel Foods and J.M. Smucker brought up the rear, falling about 7 percent each after their weak quarterly results and forecast cuts.

Even economic data on the day was a mixed bag: while the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose less than expected last week, home resales unexpectedly fell in July to their lowest monthly level of the year.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,658 to 1,007. On the Nasdaq, 1,709 issues rose and 929 fell.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)