Major Averages Firmly In Positive Territory In Afternoon Trading

Stocks moved mostly higher in early trading on Thursday and have seen some further upside over the course of the session. With the upward move, the major averages have partly offset the steep losses posted on Wednesday.

Currently, the major averages are off their best levels of the day but still firmly positive. The Dow is up 183.77 points or 0.5 percent at 34,542.27, the Nasdaq is up 147.02 points or 1.1 percent at 14,069.62 and the S&P 500 is up 36.02 points or 0.8 percent at 4,492.26.

The rebounds on Wall Street comes as stocks are extending the see-saw performance shown by the markets over the past few sessions.

The volatility seen in recent sessions comes as traders express some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following the recovery rally seen last week.

The major averages climbed well off their recent lows last week but have had some trouble sustaining the rebound amid continued concerns about the Russia-Ukraine war, inflation and interest rates.

Traders are keeping an eye on any developments out of Europe, where President Joe Biden is meeting with U.S. allies in Brussels.

The Biden administration has imposed additional sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, targeting dozens of Russian defense companies, 328 members of the Russian State Duma, and the head of Russia’s largest financial institution.

With Europe depending heavily on Russian gas for heating and power generation, the European Union is split on whether to sanction Russia’s energy sector.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level in over 50 years in the week ended March 19th.

The report showed initial jobless claims slid to 187,000, a decrease of 28,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 215,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 212,000 from the 214,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the bigger than expected decrease, jobless claims dropped to their lowest level since hitting 182,000 in September 1969.

Meanwhile, a separate report from the Commerce Department showed new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods tumbled by much more than expected in the month of February amid a sharp pullback in orders for transportation equipment.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders slumped by 2.2 percent in February after jumping by 1.6 percent in January. Economists had expected durable goods orders to dip by 0.5 percent.

Excluding the steep drop in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders fell by 0.6 percent in February after climbing by 0.8 percent in January. The decrease surprised economists, who had expected ex-transportation orders to rise by 0.6 percent.

Sector News

Semiconductor stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 4.1 percent to its best intraday level in over a month.

Nvidia (NVDA) has helped to lead the sector higher, spiking by 9 percent amid a positive analyst reaction to the graphics chipmaker’s investor-day presentation on Wednesday.

Considerable strength has also emerged among networking stocks, as reflected by the 1.9 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.

Steel stocks also continue to turn in a strong performance in afternoon, with the NYSE Arca Steel Index up by 1.7 percent after reaching its best intraday level in almost eleven years.

Computer hardware, chemical and airline stocks are also seeing notable strength on the day, while housing stocks are extending a recent downward trend.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.3 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index slid by 0.6 percent.

The major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have climbed off their worst levels of the session but remain in negative territory. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.5 basis points at 2.346 percent.

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