WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After coming under pressure early in the session, stocks have regained ground over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages have climbed off their worst levels of the day but remain in negative territory.
Currently, the major averages are posting modest losses. The Dow is down 81.13 points or 0.2 percent at 38,691.99, the Nasdaq is down 55.10 points or 0.4 percent at 15,851.08 and the S&P 500 is down 6.77 points or 0.1 percent at 5,022.96.
The early weakness on Wall Street reflected renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the release of a Labor Department report showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. producer prices in the month of January.
The report said the producer price index for final demand rose by 0.3 percent in January after edging down by 0.1 percent in December. Economists had expected producer prices to inch up by 0.1 percent.
Excluding prices for food, energy, and trade services, core producer prices climbed by 0.6 percent in January after rising by 0.2 percent in December.
While the report also showed the annual rate of producer price growth slowed to 0.9 percent in January from 1.0 percent in December, economists had expected the pace of growth to decelerate to 0.6 percent.
Following the hotter-than expected consumer price inflation data released earlier in the week, the data added to concerns the Federal Reserve will postpone cutting interest rates longer than investors had hoped.
However, the negative sentiment was partly offset by a separate report from the University of Michigan showing an uptick in consumer sentiment in the month of February.
The report said the consumer sentiment index inched up to 79.6 in February after spiking to 79.0 in January. With the increase, the consumer sentiment index reached its highest level since hitting 81.2 in July 2021.
'The fact that sentiment lost no ground this month suggests that consumers continue to feel more assured about the economy, confirming the considerable improvements in December and January across various aspects of the economy,' said Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu.
She added, 'Consumers continued to express confidence that the slowdown in inflation and strength in labor markets would continue.'
Sector News
Computer hardware stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down by 3.2 percent.
Super Micro Computer (SMCI) has led the sector lower, plunging by 11.0 percent after Wells Fargo initiated coverage of the company's stock with an Equal Weight rating.
Significant weakness is also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 2.0 percent slump by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.
Airline, commercial real estate and networking stocks are also seeing some weakness on the day, while pharmaceutical stocks have shown a strong move to the upside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged by 2.5 percent.
The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has jumped by 1.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have pulled back sharply after moving higher over the two previous sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 10.8 basis points at 4.299 percent.
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