Tuesday's early afternoon trade: stocks little changed after Yellen's comments

US stocks were little changed in early afternoon trading on Tuesday after Fed Chair Janet Yellen backed the central bank's plan to raise interest rates gradually, boosting the prospects of a December rate hike. Yellen said it would be imprudent to leave rates on hold until inflation reached the 2 percent target and that she saw "considerable" odds that inflation won't stabilize at that level over the next few years.
However, Atlanta Fed Chief Raphael Bostic said he would want "clear evidence" that prices were firming before committing to another rate increase. Chances of a rate hike in December rose to 76 percent from just about 38 percent a month ago, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. "The Fed is in a bit of a quandary," said Phil Blancato, chief executive of Ladenberg Thalmann Asset Management in New York.
"The market is concerned about the Fed being aggressive, perhaps pushing us to a place where we don't want to be, whether it's an inverted yield curve or recession". Economic data showed U.S consumer confidence fell in September while home sales dropped to an eight-month low in August due to the impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
At 12:48 pm ET (1648 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 9.46 points, or 0.04 percent, at 22,305.55, the S&P 500 was up 1.12 points, or 0.04 percent, at 2,497.78 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 3.39 points, or 0.05 percent, at 6,373.99. Rising tensions between the United states and North Korea also weighed on the sentiment.