By Abhiram Nandakumar
(Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes were little changed in muted afternoon trading on Wednesday as investors bought into tech and industrial stocks after selling retailers earlier in the session after a disappointing full-year forecast from Macy's.
U.S. bond markets were closed for Veteran's Day, which also made for generally directionless trading.
Amazon
Energy stocks were weighed down by a more-than 3 percent drop in oil prices. The S&P energy sector <.SPNY> was down 1.75 percent, the steepest decline among the 10 major S&P sectors.
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Exxon
Retailers fell after Macy's
Macy's shares fell as much as 14.7 percent to $40.10, while JC Penney
Nordstrom
Alibaba's
"Now that the pressure from Macy's has worn off, the buyers are coming back," said Phil Davis, chief executive of PSW Investments in Paterson, New Jersey.
At 13:30 p.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 20.91 points, or 0.12 percent, at 17,737.3, the S&P 500 <.SPX> was down 2.55 points, or 0.12 percent, at 2,079.17 and the Nasdaq composite index <.IXIC> was up 2.51 points, or 0.05 percent, at 5,085.76.
Apache Corp
Horizon Pharma
Boston Scientific
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,687 to 1,292. On the Nasdaq, 1,598 issues fell and 1,109 advanced. The S&P 500 index showed 15 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows, while the Nasdaq posted 92 new highs and 99 new lows.
(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)