WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving to the upside early in the session, the major U.S. stocks indexes have turned mixed over the course of the trading day on Friday. While the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 remain in positive territory, the narrower Dow has pulled back into the red.
Currently, the Dow is off its worst levels of the day but still down 86.05 points or 0.2 percent at 44,679.66, while the Nasdaq is up 137.35 points or 0.7 percent at 19,838.07 and the S&P 500 is up 12.93 points or 0.2 percent at 6,088.04.
The Dow is pulling back further off the record closing high set on Wednesday amid a continued slump by shares of UnitedHealth (UNH).
UnitedHealth is tumbling by 4.7 percent, adding to the 5.2 percent drop seen on Thursday on the heels of Wednesday's fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 continue to benefit from a positive reaction to a closely watched Labor Department showing employment in the U.S. surged by more than expected in the month of November.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment shot up by 227,000 jobs in November after rising by an upwardly revised 36,000 jobs in October.
Economists had expected employment to jump by 200,000 jobs compared to the uptick of 12,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
Meanwhile, the report said the unemployment rate crept up to 4.2 percent in November from 4.1 percent in October. The modest increase matched economist estimates.
The uptick by the unemployment rate has increased confidence the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by another 25 basis points later this month.
'Despite the strong headline number this morning, the Fed is likely to note the overall slowing in the job market and cut rates by 25 bps in 2 weeks, unless the next CPI report is white hot,' said Chris Zaccarelli, Chief Investment Officer, Northlight Asset Management.
He added, 'Given the positive backdrop of strong economic growth, a healthy labor market, and inflation that is relatively contained, the Fed can keep cutting rates and that should allow the bull market to run into the end of the year and into early next year.'
In other U.S. economic news, the University of Michigan released a report showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. has improved by slightly more than anticipated in the month of December.
The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index climbed to 74.0 in December from 71.8 in November. Economists had expected the index to rise to 73.0.
However, the report also said year-ahead inflation expectations jumped to 2.9 percent in December from 2.6 percent in November, reaching a six-month high.
Sector News
Computer hardware stocks continue to see substantial strength on the day, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index surging by 2.6 percent to its best intraday level in well over four months.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has helped lead the sector higher, spiking by 10.2 percent after Citigroup upgraded its rating on the company's stock to Buy from Neutral.
Considerable strength also remains visible among retail stocks, as reflected by the 1.5 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index.
On the other hand, oil service stocks have moved sharply lower, resulting in a 3.2 percent nosedive by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index.
Oil producer stocks are also under pressure amid a decrease by the price of crude oil, while notable weakness has also emerged among steel, gold and utilities stocks.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in yet another mixed performance during trading on Friday. While Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slid by 0.8 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1.1 percent.
The major European markets also ended the day mixed. The French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.3 percent and the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent, but the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved to the upside after ending the previous session roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.5 basis points at 4.157 percent.
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