U.S. Stocks Moving Mostly Higher On Upbeat Data, Earnings

Stocks have moved mostly higher in morning trading on Thursday, with the major averages all moving to the upside after ending the previous session mixed. With the upward move, the major averages are once again closing in on their record intraday highs.

The major averages have seen further upside in recent trading, reaching new highs for the session. The Dow is up 267.96 points or 0.9 percent at 30,991.56, the Nasdaq is up 77.96 points or 0.6 percent at 13,688.50 and the S&P 500 is up 23.83 points or 0.6 percent at 3,854.00.

The markets continue to benefit from the upward momentum seen earlier in the week, which has helped stocks largely offset the steep losses posted last week.

Easing concerns about speculative trading have helped drive the markets higher along with mostly upbeat earnings news from big-name companies.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report from the Labor Department showing a continued decline in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended January 30th.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 779,000, a decrease of 33,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 812,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 830,000 from the 847,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Jobless claims dropped for the third straight week, falling to their lowest level since hitting 716,000 in the week ended November 28th.

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

Economists currently expect employment to rise by 50,000 jobs in January after slumping by 140,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 6.7 percent.

Traders have recently taken an optimistic view toward economic data, seeing upbeat data as a positive for the economy while seeing disappointing data as putting pressure on lawmakers to pass more stimulus.

Banking stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside in morning trading, driving the KBW Bank Index up by 2.7 percent.

Significant strength has also emerged among airline stocks, as reflected by the 2.5 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

On the other hand, gold stocks have come under pressure on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 2.2 percent.

The weakness among gold stocks comes amid a steep drop by the price of the precious metal, with gold for April delivery plunging $40.40 to $1,794.70 an ounce.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.1 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, most European stocks have moved to the upside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are up by 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, although the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index has bucked the uptrend and edged down by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are moving lower for the fifth time in the past six sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 1.9 basis points at 1.150 percent.