Dow Climbs To New Record Intraday High - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday, offsetting the modest pullback seen in the previous session. With the upward move on the day, the Dow has reached a new record intraday high.

Currently, the major averages are hovering near their best levels of the day. The Dow is up 130.12 points or 0.7 percent at 18,625.78, the Nasdaq is up 24.76 points or 0.5 percent at 5,229.35 and the S&P 500 is up 11.18 points or 0.5 percent at 2,186.67.

Buying interest has been generated in reaction to upbeat earnings news from retailers Macy's (M) and Kohl's (KSS).

Shares of Macy's and Kohl's are currently up by 17.5 percent and 14.9 percent, respectively after both companies reported better than expected second quarter results.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA) is also posting a strong gain after reporting fiscal first quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates.

The strength on Wall Street also comes amid a notable increase by the price of crude oil, which is rebounding after falling sharply on Wednesday.

After tumbling $1.06 to $41.71 a barrel in the previous session, crude oil for September delivery is jumping $1.56 to $43.27 a barrel

The rebound by the price of crude oil comes after Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister said oil producing nations may discuss possible action to stabilize the market at a meeting next month.

On the U.S. economic front, , the Labor Department released a report before the start of trading showing that initial jobless claims edged slightly lower in the week ended August 6th.

The report said initial jobless claims slipped to 266,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 267,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 265,000 from the 269,000 originally reported for the previous week.

A separate report from the Labor Department showed an unexpected uptick in import prices in the month of July.

The report said import prices inched up by 0.1 percent in July after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.6 percent in June.

Import prices had been expected to drop by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.2 percent increase that had been reported for the previous month.

The Labor Department also said export prices rose by 0.2 percent in July after advancing by 0.8 percent in June.

Sector News

Benefiting from the increase by the price of crude oil, energy stocks have shown a substantial move back to the upside on the day.

Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index is up by 2.3 percent, while the NYSE Arca Oil & Gas Index and the Philadelphia Oil Service Index are up by 1.8 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Electronic storage stocks are also seeing considerable strength in mid-day trading, resulting in a 1.7 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index. Nimble Storage (NMBL) is posting a standout gain.

Airline, tobacco, and railroad stocks are also seeing some strength on the day, while commercial real estate stocks are bucking the uptrend.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in yet another mixed performance on Thursday, with the Japanese markets closed on the day. While Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 0.4 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved higher on the day. The French CAC 40 Index surged up by 1.2 percent, while the German DAX Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are giving back some ground amid the strength on Wall Street. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.7 basis points at 1.536 percent.