U.S. Stocks Bounce Back Near Unchanged Line After Seeing Early Weakness

Stocks moved mostly lower in early trading on Wednesday but have rebounded over the course of the session. The major averages have climbed well off their lows of the session and are now lingering near the unchanged line.

Currently, the major averages are narrowly mixed. While the Dow is up 23.46 points or 0.1 percent at 42,180.43, the Nasdaq is down 1.90 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 17,908.45 and the S&P 500 is down 2.13 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 5,706.62.

The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflected concerns about escalating tensions in the Middle East following Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on Tuesday.

While Iran has said it is not interested in a wider war, the attacks have contributed to a surge by the price of crude oil, leading to worries higher energy prices will lead to a resurgence in inflation.

Waning optimism the Federal Reserve will continue to aggressively lower interest rates also weighed on stocks after payroll processor ADP released a report showing stronger than expected private sector job growth in the month of September.

ADP said private sector employment climbed by 143,000 jobs in September after rising by an upwardly revised 103,000 jobs in August.

Economists had expected private sector employment to advance by 120,000 jobs compared to the addition of 99,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Selling pressure waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as traders continued to express optimism about the outlook for the economy following the jobs data.

On Friday, the Labor Department is due to release its more closely watched report on employment in the month of September.

Economists currently expect the report to show employment rose by 140,000 jobs in September after climbing by 142,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.2 percent.

Sector News

While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves, semiconductor stocks have shown a strong move back to the upside following recent weakness, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 2.1 percent.

Significant strength has also emerged among networking stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.

Computer hardware stocks are also seeing considerable strength on the day, while commercial real estate and airline stocks have moved to the downside.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index plunged by 2.2 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index spiked by 6.2 percent.

The major European markets have also turned mixed on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have shown a notable pullback following the strength seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 6.5 basis points at 3.808 percent.

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