WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After seeing modest weakness early in the session, stocks have moved back to the upside over the course of the trading day on Friday. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have climbed well off their lows of the session and into positive territory.
Currently, the Nasdaq is up 62.93 points or 0.4 percent at 16,464.76 and the S&P 500 is up 3.73 points or 0.1 percent at 5,245.26. The narrower Dow has not participated in the turnaround, however, with the blue chip index down 170.38 points or 0.4 percent at 39,610.99.
The early pullback on Wall Street partly reflected profit taking, with some traders looking to cash in on the recent strength in the markets.
The major averages gave back ground after an early rally on Thursday but still ended the session at new record closing highs.
Selling pressure remained relatively subdued, however, as traders remain optimistic about the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement earlier in the week.
While the timing of the first rate remains somewhat uncertainty the chances of a quarter point rate cut in June have rebounded to 66.5 percent, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
The subsequent turnaround by the markets was once again led by Nvidia (NVDA), with the chipmaker surging by 3.5 percent.
The AI darling, which has recently been a key drive of trading on Wall Street, is currently poised to end the day at a record closing high.
Shares of FedEx (FDX) have also spiked by 7.1 percent after the delivery giant reported fiscal third quarter results that beat expectations and announced a new $5 billion share repurchase program.
Meanwhile, shares of Lululemon (LULU) have plunged by 15.2 percent after the athletic apparel retailer reported better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results but provided disappointing guidance.
Athletic footwear and apparel giant Nike (NKE) has also tumbled by 5.8 percent after reporting fiscal third quarter earnings and revenues that exceeded estimates but slowing growth in China.
Sector News
Despite the rebound by the broader markets, telecom stocks continue to see significant weakness on the day, with the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index falling by 1.3 percent.
Notable weakness also remains visible among banking stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain being posted by the KBW Bank Index.
Commercial real estate, gold and brokerage stocks are also seeing continued weakness, while semiconductor stocks have moved to the upside over the course of the session.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index crept up by 0.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slumped by 1.0 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index plunged by 2.2 percent.
The major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3percent, the German DAX Index inched up by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have shown a strong move to the upside after ending the previous session roughly flat. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 5.5 basis points at 4.216 percent.
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