NEW YORK — Investors turned cautious on the second trading day of the year as a pair of economic reports gave mixed signals about how the recovery is going.
Major stock indexes ended little-changed a day after the Dow Jones industrials soared more than 150 points on upbeat manufacturing reports in the U.S. and China. Uncertainty over key reports this week on employment and the service industry also kept buyers at bay.
The economic news Tuesday was muddled. The Commerce Department reported that factory orders rose by more than twice what had been expected in November, reflecting demand in the steel, computer and chemical industries. The gain of 1.1 percent easily beat the 0.5 percent forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Meanwhile, the number of buyers who agreed to purchase previously occupied homes fell sharply in November, an indication that sales will fall this winter. The National Association of Realtors said its index of pending sales fell 16 percent, the first drop after nine months of gains. Some decline had been expected.
A strengthening dollar also held stocks to modest moves. A strong dollar makes commodities and shares of the companies that produce them less attractive to foreign buyers. It also hurts the profits of companies that do business overseas.
The Dow slipped 11.94, or 0.1 percent, to 10,572.02. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 3.53, or 0.3 percent, to 1,136.52, its highest close since Oct. 1, 2008. The Nasdaq composite edged up 0.29, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,308.71.
Nick Kalivas, vice president of financial research at MF Global in Chicago, said investors are cautious ahead of reports later in the week on the service industry and employment because they want to confirm that the economy is healing.
“There is a lot of data out the next couple of days that people want to see before they chase a market at its highs,” Kalivas said.
