Low volume on US equities trading

Volume was only 1.3 billion shares on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday and there was so little movement on the various indexes that one analyst called the day’s trading “boring.”

What little movement there was went mostly in a negative direction as the S&P 500 lost 0.2 percent to 1,213.62 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell only a fraction to 10,599.67.

Technology-oriented Nasdaq, on the other hand, advanced 0.1 percent to 2,091.07.

Much of the activity on the day could be laid to higher oil prices and an earnings warning by steelmaker Nucor, which announced that its second-quarter earnings will remain at the low end of forecasts. The news sent Newcor’s shares 4.3 percent lower to $50.68.

In the energy sector, shares in Unocal, the eighth-biggest oil company in the US gained 2.2 percent to $64.85 on the news that Chinese energy company CNOOC is seriously thinking about mounting a $20 billion takeover bid for Unocal.

The only other news that caused a stir was the announcement that Haier, the Chinese appliance manufacturer will join forces with two private equity firms to mount a $1.3 billion takeover of Maytag. The news caused Maytag shares to go up 5.5 percent to $16.06.

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