Nerves weigh on trading

US STOCKS retreated from early gains

Around 11.20am ET, the Dow Jones industrial average, up 33.19 to 8022.75, and the S&P 500 index, up 3.20 to 850.68, both struggled to hold on to earlier gains, while the Nasdaq composite up 1.31 to 1326.58, was little changed after having spent the early morning trading on both sides of break-even.

“There were technical breakdowns in several of the major averages yesterday, so we’re getting a small bounce now. But there’s reluctance to build on that ahead of what Bush might say,” said Bryan Piskorowski at Prudential Securities.