WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the lackluster performance seen early in the session, stocks continue to show a lack of direction in afternoon trading on Thursday. The major averages have spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.
Currently, the major averages are narrowly mixed. While the Dow is down 112.30 points or 0.3 percent at 38,599.91, the S&P 500 is up 3.44 points or 0.1 percent at 5,424.47 and the Nasdaq is up 30.17 points or 0.2 percent at 17,638.61.
The choppy trading on Wall Street comes despite the release of U.S. economic data that seemed likely to add to optimism about the outlook for interest rates.
While the data may have generated some hopes Federal Reserve officials were being conservative when they forecast just one rate cut this year, traders may be reluctant to continuing buying stocks following yesterday's surge.
Following yesterday's tamer-than-expected consumer price inflation data, the Labor Department released a report this morning unexpectedly showing a modest decrease by producer prices in the month of May.
The report said the producer price index for final demand dipped by 0.2 percent in May after climbing by 0.5 percent in April. Economists had expected producer prices to inch up by 0.1 percent.
The report also said the annual rate of producer price growth slowed to 2.2 percent in May from an upwardly revised 2.3 percent in April.
Economists had expected the annual rate of producer price growth to accelerate to 2.5 percent from the 2.2 percent originally reported for the previous month.
The Labor Department also released a separate report showing an unexpected increase by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended June 8th.
The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 242,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 229,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 225,000.
With the unexpected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 248,000 in the week ended August 12, 2023.
'The latest data in hand nudge the door a little wider open for the Fed to begin making an interest rate cut later this year,' said Bill Adams, Chief Economist for Comerica Bank. 'Comerica forecasts for the Fed to make its first cut of this cycle in September, followed by a second cut in December.'
Sector News
Oil service stocks have shown a significant move to the downside on the day despite a modest increase by the price of crude oil, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index tumbling by 2.2 percent.
Substantial weakness also remains visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The weakness among gold stocks comes as the price of the precious metal has pulled back sharply after surging on Wednesday.
Airline, brokerage and steel stocks are also seeing considerable weakness on the day, while computer hardware and semiconductor stocks have shown strong moves to the upside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in yet another mixed performance on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.4 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index dipped by 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and South Korea's Kospi both jumped by 1.0 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.6 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both plunged by 2.0 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are extending the strong upward move seen over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4.7 basis points at 4.248 percent.
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