Stocks waver in early trading on mixed retail results

Stocks are drifting between small gains and losses in early trading after several big retailers turned in mixed results.

Wal-Mart Stores and Home Depot each rose 3 percent early Tuesday after turning in earnings that were better than analysts expected.

Urban Outfitters plunged 14 percent after its sales fell short.

Investors have been worried that poor results from Macy’s, Nordstrom and other big retailers could mean a weak holiday shopping season.

The Dow Jones industrial average was flat at 17,486 as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell a point to 2,052. The Nasdaq composite edged down two points to 4,982.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.29 percent.