U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Higher After Seeing Initial Weakness

After an initial move to the downside, stocks have moved mostly higher over the course of morning trading on Wednesday. The major averages have all bounced well off their early lows and into positive territory.

Currently, the major averages are posting moderate gains. The Dow is up 174.01 points or 0.5 percent at 33,995.31, the Nasdaq is up 27.89 points or 0.2 percent at 13,814.16 and the S&P 500 is up 13.76 points or 0.3 percent at 4,148.70.

The turnaround on Wall Street comes on the heels of the pullback seen in the two previous sessions, which dragged the Dow and the S&P 500 down off last Friday’s record highs.

Despite concerns about high valuations, traders have largely been reluctant to sell stocks amid worries about missing out on further upside.

Stocks linked to the economy reopening are seeing notable strength on the day, with shares of Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) spiking by 7 percent.

The jump by Norwegian comes after Goldman Sachs upgraded its rating on the cruise line operators stock to Buy from Neutral. Carnival (CCL) and Royal Caribbean (RCL) are also posting strong gains.

On the other hand, shares of Netflix (NFLX) have moved sharply lower, with the video streaming giant tumbling by 7.2 percent.

The steep drop by Netflix comes after the company reported first quarter earnings and revenues that beat estimates but much weaker than expected subscriber growth.

Gold stocks have shown a strong move to the upside in morning trading, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 1.8 percent to its best intraday level in well over two months.

The strength in the gold sector comes amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for June delivery climbing $15.80 to $1,794.20 an ounce.

Significant strength has also emerged among chemical stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent gain being posted by the S&P Chemical Sector Index.

Airline, tobacco and oil stocks are also regaining ground after falling sharply in the previous session, moving higher along with most of other major sectors.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index plunged by 2 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index tumbled by 1.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.9 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.7 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved modestly lower over the course of the morning. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.2 basis points 1.584 percent.