WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday, with the major averages all moving to the upside after ending the previous session narrowly mixed. The advance by the Dow comes on the heels of a three-day losing streak for the blue chip index.
Currently, the major averages are well off their highs of the session but still firmly positive. The Nasdaq is up 124.50 points or 0.8 percent at 16,406.95, the S&P 500 is up 33.92 points or 0.7 percent at 5,245.41 and the Dow is up 176.00 points or 0.5 percent at 39,303.14.
The strength on Wall Street comes following the release of a Labor Department report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected in the week ended March 30th.
The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 221,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week's revised level of 212,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 214,000 from the 210,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the bigger than expected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 225,000 in the week ended January 27th.
The advance by jobless claims has generated some optimism about the outlook for interest rates, although the likelihood of a rate cut in June remains uncertain.
CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 55.5 percent chance the Federal Reserve will cut rates by a quarter point in June but a 40.7 percent chance rates will remain unchanged.
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report for March.
Economists currently expected employment to jump by 200,000 jobs in March after surging by 275,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.9 percent.
Sector News
Airline stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 2.2 percent.
Significant strength is also visible among interest rate-sensitive commercial real estate stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index.
Networking stocks are also seeing considerable strength, driving the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 1.2 percent.
Banking, computer hardware and software stocks have also shown notable moves to the upside, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Thursday, with markets in China and Hong Kong closed for a holiday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, while South Korea's Kospi jumped by 1.3 percent.
The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has climbed by 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are seeing modest strength after moving slightly higher over the course of the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.6 basis points at 4.339 percent.
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