US stocks little changed as GE sells finance assets

New York - Wall Street stocks finished a choppy session little-changed on Tuesday as a big General Electric asset sale offset worries about spiking US treasury yields.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17 761.54, down 5.01 points (0.03%), while the broad-based S&P 500 added 0.67 (0.03%) at 2 079.95.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 7.76 (0.15%) to 5 013.87, finishing nearly 40 points above its session lows.

"The stocks were very weak the first hours and then they were able in the midday to stage a pretty good comeback," said Mace Blicksilver, director of Marblehead Asset Management, adding that surging US Treasury yields remained a concern.

"If these rates keep going up, I think you're going to get some real concerns about stocks."

Dow member GE gained 0.4% as it announced the sale of a pair of finance assets to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for $12bn.