Stocks are trading in a tight range Tuesday. With not much news to guide the morning action, the S&P 500 traded in a narrow 9-point span.

Texas Instruments (TXN) is helping the tech sector after raising second quarter earnings guidance. The tech-heavy NASDAQ is up 18 points. American Express (AXP) is the best gainer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, gaining 4.5 percent on news it will repurchase $3.9 billion in preferred shares from the government.

Chevron (CVX) is also helping the industrial average after crude gained $1.17 to $69.26. Gold is up $5.20 to $957.70 an ounce.

Overall, however, trading is mixed, with 16 Dow stocks higher and 14 lower. Relative weakness continues in some of the cyclical names-BA, UTX, and HD-for a second day. Consequently, the Dow has mustered only a modest 10 point gain.

The quiet trading has the CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) down .93 to 28.84. Approximately 3.2 million puts and 3.8 million calls traded across the exchanges, a ratio of .84 (22 day average = .76).

GM June 1 calls is the most actively traded contract. Shares are up 25 cents to $1.46 despite the recent bankruptcy. Some players appear to be selling June 1 calls on the strength, with 74.4K contracts traded and 53 percent of the volume hitting bid-side of the bid-ask spread.

Meanwhile, solar names (CSUN, LDK, STP) are seeing relative strength and some players have been snapping up calls on JA Solar (JASO).

Bullish trading is also being seen in Etrade (ETFC), Mirant (MIR), and Officemax (OMX). Bearish trading is picking up in YRC Worlwide (YRCW), Royal Caribbean (RCL), and the Currency Euro Trust (FXE).