The S&P 500 continues to bump up against resistance at the neutral line, where sellers have been standing firm all session.
Part of the stock markets inability to turn positive stems from an absence of leadership. Sure, telecom stocks are up 0.7% and utilities stocks are up 0.8%, but together the two sectors account for just 6% of the market's overall weight. Meanwhile, tech and financials, which combine for almost 35% of the market's overall weight, are down 0.2% and 0.6%, respectively. The tech sector continues to be weakened by semiconductor stocks (-2.8%) while the financial sector has been hampered by specialized finance issues (-0.8%).