Author: Elena Todorova
123jump.com
Last Update: 11:57 AM EDT May 18 2006

Stocks turned to lackluster trading in late morning as investors remained worried about inflation and interest-rate hikes. The negative sentiment was limited by gains for Hewlett-Packard and Shares Corp. Hewlett-Packard rose 2.3% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock. Shares of Sears rose 12.4% after the company reported a much bigger-than-expected quarterly profit. Among other gainers, Trend Micro rose 6.5%, while Ctrip climbed nearly 9% on strong full-year results.