After coming under pressure early in the session, stocks have regained ground over the course of morning trading on Thursday. The major averages have climbed well off their lows of the session but remain in negative territory.
Currently, the major averages are posting modest losses. The Dow is down 80.76 points or 0.2 percent at 33,401.96, the Nasdaq is down 21.96 points or 0.2 percent at 11,974.90 and the S&P 500 is down 6.82 points or 0.2 percent at 4,083.56.
The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflected lingering concerns about the economic outlook following the recent release of some disappointing data.
The Labor Department released a report this morning showing a drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended April 1st, although the decrease came from a notably upwardly revised level.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 228,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 246,000.
Economists had expected initial jobless claims to inch up to 200,000 from the 198,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The Labor Department noted that beginning with the latest data, the methodology used to seasonally adjust the national initial claims and continued claims reflects a change in the estimation of the models.
Matthew Martin, U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics said the updated seasonal adjustment factors led to upwards revisions to the claims data over most of the last five years.
“The last 10 weeks saw on average 30k upward revision to claims, pointing to a labor market that’s less tight than previously estimated,” Martin added.
Selling pressure waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as traders seem reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department’s more closely watched employment report on Friday.
Economists currently expect the report to show employment increased by 240,000 jobs in March after climbing by 311,000 jobs in February. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.6 percent.
The data could impact the outlook for interest rates and the economy, although traders will have to wait to react to the report, as the U.S. stock markets will be closed for Good Friday.
Sector News
Reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day.
Networking stocks are seeing significant weakness, however, resulting in a 1.6 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.
Notable weakness is also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 1.1 percent loss being posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.
On the other hand, banking stocks have shown a strong move to the upside, driving the KBW Bank Index up by 1.4 percent.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.2 percent and South Korea’s Kospi dove by 1.4 percent, while Indian stocks saw modest strength after the central bank unexpectedly left interest rates unchanged.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index has jumped by 1.0 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.3 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have shown a lack of direction over the course of the morning. Currently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by less than a basis point at 3.285 percent.
Business News
U.S. Stocks Regain Ground After Early Move To The Downside
2023-04-06 14:41:43
