US stocks waver after heavy sell-off

New York, Jan 6: The US stocks traded in a narrow range in the morning session on Tuesday, as Wall Street attempted to recover from a sharp sell-off on the first trading day of the year.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 47.12 points, or 0.27 percent, to 17,101.82. The S&P 500 ticked down 0.42 points, or 0.02 percent, to 2,012.24. The Nasdaq Composite Index inched down 0.25 points, or 0.01 percent, to 4,902.84, Xinhua news agency reported.

The US stocks slumped on Monday, the first trading day of 2016, as global market rout and geopolitical tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia rattled the nerves of investors.

Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic ties with Iran over the weekend and asked all Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours.

Analysts said the heightened geopolitical tensions sent traders scurrying from stocks into safe haven assets.

Meanwhile, investors continued to focus on oil prices amid rising tensions in the Middle East, as crude prices had witnessed big swings lately and traded near multi-year lows.

Traders were also looking to the key December employment data due out Friday, the first jobs report since the U.S. Federal Reserve’s mid-December decision to raise its interest rates.   (IANS)