Stocks Remain Mostly Positive After Seeing Early Strength - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - While buying interest has waned from earlier in the session, stocks remain mostly positive in mid-day trading on Thursday. The gains on the day are partly offsetting the notable pullback seen over the course of the two previous sessions.

Currently, the major averages are posting modest gains, off their highs for the session. The Dow is up 46.56 points or 0.3 percent at 18,143.46, the Nasdaq is up 18.31 points or 0.4 percent at 4,985.45 and the S&P 500 is up 3.57 points or 0.2 percent at 2,102.10.

A positive reaction to news out of Europe has contributed to the strength on Wall Street, as the European Central Bank provided additional details about its quantitative easing program.

ECB President Mario Draghi revealed that the bank will purchase $66.3 billion worth of bonds each month beginning on March 9th.

The central bank previously indicated that the $1.1 trillion asset purchase program is expected to continue until September of 2016.

Following its monetary policy meeting, the ECB also raised its forecast for European economic growth in 2015 to 1.5 percent from 1 percent.

While the ECB also lowered its outlook for inflation in the current year, the QE program is expected to boost inflation going forward.

The news out of Europe seems to have overshadowed some disappointing U.S. economic data, including a report from the Labor Department showing an unexpected increase in initial jobless claims.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose to 320,000 in the week ended February 28th from the previous week's unrevised level of 313,000. The increase came as a surprise to economists, who had expected initial jobless claims to drop to 295,000.

With the unexpected increase, jobless claims rose to their highest level since reaching 327,000 in the week ended May 17, 2014.

Friday morning, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report for February.

Economists currently expect the report to show an increase of about 230,000 jobs in February, pushing the unemployment rate down to 5.6 percent.

Sector News

Despite the strength being shown by the broader markets, most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves in mid-day trading.

Biotechnology stocks continue to see significant strength, however, with the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index up by 2.3 percent. The index reached a record intraday high earlier in the session.

Pharmacyclics (PCYC) helped to lead the biotech sector higher, with biopharmaceutical company jumping by 10.5 percent after agreeing to be acquired by AbbVie (ABBV) for $21 billion.

Internet, utilities, and telecom stocks are also seeing some strength on the day, while weakness has emerged among natural gas and steel stocks.

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 rose by 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index advanced by 0.9 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasuries have turned lower over the course of the session after seeing early strength. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 1.4 basis points at 2.137 percent.