Stocks Move Mostly Higher Following Yellen Speech - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Following a highly anticipated speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, stocks have moved mostly higher in morning trading on Friday. The major averages have all moved to the upside after closing lower in the two previous sessions.

In recent trading, the major averages have pulled back off their highs, but they remain in positive territory. The Dow is up 92.65 points or 0.5 percent at 18,541.06, the Nasdaq is up 32.13 points or 0.6 percent at 5,244.33 and the S&P 500 is up 11.66 points or 0.5 percent at 2,184.13.

The strength that has emerged on Wall Street comes after the Fed released Yellen's prepared remarks at the Kansas City Fed's monetary policy symposium, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

In her prepared remarks, Yellen said she believes the case for raising interest rates has strengthened in recent months.

Yellen said the economy is nearing the Fed's goals of maximum employment and price stability and noted the central bank expects additional strengthening in the labor market and inflation rising to 2 percent over the next few years.

However, Yellen stressed that the Fed's monetary policy decisions always depend on the degree to which incoming data continues to confirm the outlook.

The Commerce Department released a report earlier in the day showing a slight downward revision to the pace of U.S. economic growth in the second quarter.

The report said gross domestic product increased by 1.1 percent in the second quarter, reflecting a downward revision compared to the originally reported 1.2 percent growth. The revision matched economist estimates.

The downwardly revised GDP growth in the second quarter still reflects an acceleration from the 0.8 percent increase seen in the first quarter.

A separate report from the University of Michigan unexpectedly showed a slight deterioration in consumer sentiment in the month of August.

With the price of gold jumping in reaction to Yellen's remarks, gold stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside on the day. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index has surged up by 2.8 percent, climbing further off Wednesday's nearly two-month closing low.

Steel, energy, and biotechnology stocks are also seeing notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

In overseas trading, the lackluster mood continued in the Asia-Pacific region, leading to another mixed close on Friday. While Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.2 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved higher on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has risen by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.7 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved to the upside on the heels of Yellen's remarks. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 3.6 basis points at 1.541 percent.