Stock indexes barely budge in midday trading

6/4/2013

NEW YORK — The stock market is drifting between slight gains and losses in midday trading.

Encouraging news about the housing market and trade helped nudge stocks up in early trading, but by midday indexes were little changed.

Traders are looking ahead to Friday, when the Labor Department releases its closely watched monthly jobs survey.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down a fraction at 15,253 as of noon today.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose a fraction to 1,641.

The Nasdaq rose seven points to 3,472, an increase of 0.2 percent.

General Motors gained 2 percent on news that the company will be added to the S&P 500 index on Thursday, replacing H.J. Heinz Co, which is being acquired by Berkshire Hathaway and the private equity firm 3G Capital.