WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After showing a strong move to the upside early in the session, stocks have given back ground over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The major averages have pulled back well off their highs of the session but remain in positive territory.
Currently, the Dow is up just 48.04 points or 0.1 percent at 39,175.18 after surging nearly 300 points in early trading. The Nasdaq is up 125.54 points or 0.8 percent at 16,402.99 and the S&P 500 is up 23.10 points or 0.4 percent at 5,234.59.
The early rally on Wall Street came 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 58.3 percent chance the Federal Reserve will cut rates by a quarter point in June but a 39.2 percent chance rates will remain unchanged.
Buying interest has waned over the course of the session, however, as traders seem reluctant to make significant bets ahead of the release of the Labor Department's more closely watched monthly employment report on Friday.
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 continue to see substantial strength in afternoon trading, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 2.2 percent.
Significant strength is also visible among software stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index.
Computer hardware and banking stocks are also seeing some strength on the day, although buying interest has waned from earlier in the session.
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.
Most European stocks also moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.5 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.2 percent, although the French CAC 40 Index closed just below the unchanged line.
In the bond market, treasuries have pulled back near the unchanged line after seeing early strength. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is unchanged at 4.355 percent after hitting a low of 4.315 percent.
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