Stocks Remain Nearly Flat In Mid-Day Trading - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After showing a lack of direction early in the session, stocks continue to turn in a lackluster performance in mid-day trading on Thursday. The major averages continue to show only modest moves on the day, holding near the unchanged line.

Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. While the Dow is down 6.30 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 18,475.18, the Nasdaq is up 5.42 points or 0.1 percent at 5,223.12 and the S&P 500 is up 0.80 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 2,176.24.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders continue to look ahead to a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Friday.

Yellen is due to speak at the Kansas City Fed's monetary policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and traders will be looking for clues about the outlook for interest rates in her remarks.

However, analysts have noted the speech entitled "Designing Resilient Monetary Policy Frameworks for the Future" may focus more on the long-term.

"Traders are, as always, hoping to be able to decipher the path for U.S. monetary policy," said Accendo Markets analysts Mike van Dulken and Augustin Eden. "They may be left wanting. Again."

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report before the start of trading showing a stronger than expected rebound in durable goods orders in the month of July.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders surged up by 4.4 percent in July after tumbling by a revised 4.2 percent in June.

Economists had expected orders to climb by about 3.7 percent compared to the 4.0 percent slump that had been reported for the previous month.

Excluding a jump in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose by 1.5 percent in July after edging down by 0.3 percent in June. Ex-transportation orders had been expected to tick up by 0.5 percent.

A separate report from the Labor Department unexpectedly showed another modest drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended August 20th.

The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 261,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 262,000. Economists had expected claims to rise to 265,000.

Sector News

Gold stocks have shown a strong move to the upside on the day, regaining some ground following recent weakness. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index has surged up by 1.7 percent after hitting a nearly two-month closing low on Wednesday.

The rebound by gold stocks comes even though the price of the precious metal is seeing further downside, with gold for December delivery sliding $3.80 to $1,325.90 an ounce.

Considerable strength has also emerged among electronic storage stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index. Micron (MU) is posting a standout gain after HP (HPQ) warned of a shortage around LCDs, DRAM and flash memory.

Most of the other major sectors are showing more modest moves, contributing to the lackluster performance being turned in by the broader markets.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific closed mixed once again on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dipped by 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index inched up by less than a tenth of a percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slipped by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.7 percent and the German DAX Index slumped by 0.9 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are seeing slight weakness but off their worst levels of the session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by nearly a basis point at 1.568 percent.