U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Higher Following Avalanche Of Data

Stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday, with the major averages all moving to the upside following the mixed performance seen in the previous session. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have once again reached their best intraday levels in over a year.

In recent trading, the major averages have reached new highs for the session. The Dow is up 340.58 points or 1.0 percent at 34,319.91, the Nasdaq is up 75.66 points or 0.6 percent at 13,702.13 and the S&P 500 is up 31.57 points or 0.7 percent at 4,404.16.

The strength on Wall Street may reflect optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the release of a slew of U.S. economic data.

While the Federal Reserve forecast further rate hikes on Wednesday, traders seem hopeful the central bank will not follow through.

The optimism may partly stem from a report from the Labor Department showing initial jobless claims held at their highest level since October 2021 in the week ended June 9th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims came in at 262,000, unchanged from the previous week’s revised level.

Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 249,000 from the 261,000 originally reported for the previous week.

A separate Labor Department report showing import prices in the U.S. fell by much more than expected in the month of May has also generated optimism about the outlook for inflation.

The report said import prices slid by 0.6 percent in May, reflecting a sharp pullback in prices for fuel imports and a modest decrease in prices for non-fuel imports. Economists had expected import prices to edge down by 0.1 percent.

“Nonfuel import prices along with the consumer and producer prices suggest that inflation is moderating,” said Matthew Martin, US Economist at Oxford Economics. “Therefore, it’s unlikely that the Fed follows through with their plan to hike rates in the second half of this year.”

Meanwhile, separate reports showed an unexpected increase in retail sales and an unexpected decrease in industrial production.

Sector News

Software stocks have shown a significant move to the upside on the day, with the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index climbing by 1.5 percent to its best intraday level in well over a year.

Significant strength is also visible among energy stocks, which are moving higher amid sharp increases in the prices of crude oil and natural gas.

Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the NYSE Arca Oil Index is up by 1.4 percent, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index is up by 1.3 percent and the Philadelphia Oil Service Index is up by 1.2 percent.

The strength in the sector comes as crude for July delivery is surging $1.67 or 2.5 percent to $69.94 a barrel, while natural gas for July delivery is soaring $0.192 or 8.2 percent to $2.534 per million BTUs.

On the other hand, gold stocks are notably lower amid a modest decrease by the price of the precious metal, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 1.3 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 edged down by 0.1 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

The major European markets have also turned mixed on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index is down by 0.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.6 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved higher over the course of the session after seeing early weakness. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4.1 basis points at 3.755 percent.

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