After an initial move to the upside, stocks have given back ground over the course of morning trading on Thursday. The major averages have pulled back off their highs of the session, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 falling into negative territory.
Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. While the Dow is up 39.21 points or 0.1 percent at 34,512.19, the Nasdaq is down 62.30 points or 0.5 percent at 13,658.73 and the S&P 500 is down 4.86 points or 0.1 percent at 4,431.15.
The initial strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA). Despite the pullback by the broader markets, shares of Nvidia remain up by 2.2 percent.
The jump by Nvidia comes after the company reported fiscal second quarter results that far exceeded analyst estimates and provided upbeat guidance amid optimism about demand for AI chips.
Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, with concerns about the outlook for interest rates continuing to weigh on the markets.
Some negative sentiment may have been generated by comments from former St. Louis President Federal Reserve President James Bullard, who told Bloomberg Television a pickup in economic activity this summer could delay plans for the Fed to wrap up interest rate increases.
“This reacceleration could put upward pressure on inflation, stem the disinflation that we’re seeing and instead delay plans for the Fed to change policy,” Bullard said.
Bullard’s comments came as the highly anticipated economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, gets underway later today.
The symposium will feature meetings by global central bank leaders as well as a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday that could impact the outlook for interest rates.
On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods tumbled by more than expected in the month of July.
The Commerce Department said durable goods orders plunged by 5.2 percent in July after surging by a revised 4.4 percent in June.
Economists had expected durable goods orders to slump by 4.0 percent compared to the 4.6 percent jump that had been reported for the previous month.
Excluding a pullback in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose by 0.5 percent in July after inching up by 0.2 percent in June. Ex-transportation orders were expected to edge up by 0.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department released a report unexpectedly showing a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended August 19th.
The report said initial jobless claims slipped to 230,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 240,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 240,000 from the 239,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Sector News
Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets.
Commercial real estate stocks are seeing notable strength, however, with the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index climbing by 1.2 percent.
Banking and utilities stocks have also moved to the upside on the day, while airline and computer hardware stocks have moved to the downside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index spiked by 2.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have shown a lack of direction over the course of the morning. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 4.204 percent.
Business News
U.S. Stocks Giving Back Ground After Initial Move To The Upside
2023-08-24 14:35:27
