Bargain Hunting Contributes To Early Strength On Wall Street - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved mostly higher in early trading on Friday, regaining some ground following the sell-off seen in the previous session. The major averages have climbed firmly into positive territory but remain well below their recent highs.

In recent trading, the major averages have pulled back off their highs for the young session, but they are holding on to notable gains. The Dow is up 112.87 points or 0.6 percent at 17,953.39, the Nasdaq is up 35.33 points or 0.7 percent at 4,976.75 and the S&P 500 is up 12.17 points or 0.6 percent at 2,097.68.

The early strength on Wall Street is partly due to bargain hunting following the notable pullback seen over the past week.

The losses seen over the past few sessions have pulled the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 down well off the record closing highs set last Friday.

Biotechnology stocks have shown a significant move back to the upside in early trading, driving the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index up by 2.3 percent. The gain by the index comes after it ended the previous session at its worst closing level in over two months.

Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) has helped to lead the biotech sector higher, jumping by 13.3 percent after reporting better than expected first quarter results.

Semiconductor, airline, and chemical stocks are also seeing considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Meanwhile, the markets did not show much reaction to the release of a slew of U.S. economic data not long after the start of trading.

The Institute for Supply Management released a report showing that activity in the manufacturing sector continued to expand in April, although the index of activity in the sector unexpectedly held steady.

The ISM said its purchasing managers index came in at 51.5 in April, unchanged from the reading reported for the previous month.

A reading above 50 indicates continued growth in the manufacturing sector, but economists had expected the index to edge up to 52.0.

The Commerce Department released a separate report showing an unexpected drop on construction spending in the month of March.

The report said construction spending fell by 0.6 percent to annual rate of $966.6 billion in March from the revised February estimate of $972.9 billion.

Additionally, the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index for April came in at 95.9, unrevised from the mid-month reading and up from 93.0 in March.

In overseas trading, many of the stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region were closed on Friday due to the May Day holiday. Nonetheless, Japan's Nikkei 225 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and Australia's All Ordinaries Index rose by 0.4 percent.

Most of the major European markets are also closed on the day, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is rising by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the downtrend seen over the past few sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 6.2 basis points at 2.108 percent.