Stocks Remain Firmly Positive In Mid-Day Trading - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After showing a strong move to the upside early in the session, stocks have continued to perform well over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The gains have lifted the major averages toward the high of the ranges seen thus far this year.

The major averages have moved roughly sideways in recent trading, hovering near their best levels of the day. The Dow is up 154.98 points or 0.9 percent at 17,828.00, the Nasdaq is up 31.61 points or 0.7 percent at 4,748.31 and the S&P 500 is up 16.37 points or 0.8 percent at 2,057.88.

A notable rebound by the price of crude oil has contributed to the strength on Wall Street, with crude regaining some ground following the sharp pullback seen on Wednesday.

Crude for March delivery is currently jumping $3.28 to $51.73 a barrel after plunging $4.60 to $48.45 a barrel in the previous session.

Positive sentiment has also been generated by a report from the Labor Department showing a smaller than expected rebound in initial jobless claims in the week ended January 31st.

The report said initial jobless claims rose to 278,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's revised level of 267,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to climb to 290,000.

The release of the weekly report comes ahead of the release of the more closely watched monthly jobs report before the start of trading on Friday.

Meanwhile, traders largely seem to have shrugged off separate reports on fourth quarter productivity and the December trade deficit as old news.

While the trade deficit widened, Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said the data was broadly in line with assumptions made by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, likely resulting in no revisions to fourth quarter GDP growth.

Additionally, the continued advance by the Dow partly reflects a strong gain by Pfizer (PFE), with the drug giant jumping by 2.6 percent after agreeing to acquire Hospira (HSP) for about $16 billion.

Sector News

Rebounding along with the price of crude oil, oil service stocks have shown a strong move to the upside on the day. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index has surged up by 2.9 percent, nearly offsetting the 3 percent loss posted on Wednesday.

Weatherford International (WFT) is turning in one of the oil service sector's best performances after announcing plans to cut up to 8,000 jobs.

Other energy stocks are also moving notably higher on the day, with the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index jumping by 2.5 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil & Gas Index climbing by 1.6 percent.

Considerable strength has also emerged among chemical stocks, as reflected by the 2 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones Chemicals Index. With the gain, the index has risen to a two-month high.

Steel, telecom, networking, and brokerage stocks are also seeing significant strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Meanwhile, airline stocks are bucking the uptrend on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 1.5 percent.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 0.4 percent.

The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved modestly lower, pulling back further off their recent highs. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2 basis points at 1.817 percent.