U.S. stocks are making small gains Tuesday afternoon as investors trade cautiously while waiting for British voters to decide the fate of that nation's membership in the European Union. Phone and energy companies are rising and drug companies are falling. Stocks posted big gains a day earlier. KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average picked up 41 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,846 as of 2:15 p.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,090. The Nasdaq composite added 2 points to 4,839, AP reported. ALL EYES ON BRITAIN: Opinion polls and betting markets indicate that Britons are more likely to vote to remain in the European Union in a referendum Thursday. Uncertainty about the outcome has weighed on global markets, and polls suggest the result will be close. YELLEN TESTIMONY: Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen spoke to the Senate Tuesday and said the U.S. economy faces a number of uncertainties that require the Fed to proceed cautiously in raising interest rates. Yellen said the Fed will watch carefully to see if the recent slowdown in job growth is temporary or a sign of a bigger problem. The Fed left interest rates unchanged in June and will meet again in late July. ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude shed 54 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $48.83 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 32 to $50.33 a barrel in London. The price of oil rose about 7 percent over the last two days. IMPAX SLACKENS: Generic drug maker Impax Laboratories tumbled after it agreed to pay $586 million for a group of generic drugs owned by Allergan and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Those companies had to sell the products because Allergan is buying Teva's generic drugs business. Impax lost $4.09, or 12.8 percent, to $27.88. IMPERVIOUS: Data security software company Imperva climbed $4.76, or 11.8 percent, to $45.20 after Elliott Capital, the firm run by activist investor Paul Singer, disclosed a stake. OVERSEAS: Germany's DAX rose 0.5 percent and France's CAC 40 advanced 0.6 percent, also adding to large gains on Monday. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.4 percent. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 1.3 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.7 percent while Seoul's Kospi gained 0.1 percent. BONDS, CURRENCIES: Bond prices stabilized after Monday's skid. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note remained at 1.69 percent. The dollar rose to 104.73 yen from 103.96 yen. The euro fell to $1.1164 from $1.1314. The British pound edged back to $1.4685 from $1.4693 after a big jump Monday. METALS: The price of gold dropped $19.60, or 1.5 percent, to $1,272.50 an ounce and silver fell 20 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $17.32 an ounce. Copper rose 2 cents to $2.12 a pound.
