WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on
Friday, regaining ground following the substantial downturn seen over the course
of the previous session. The major averages have all moved to the upside, with
the Dow closing in on its record highs.

In recent trading, the major averages have reached new highs for the session.
The Dow is up 195.79 points or 0.5 percent at 39,949.54, the Nasdaq is up 197.67
points or 1.1 percent at 18,481.08 and the S&P 500 is up 43.82 points or 0.8
percent at 5,628.36.

The strength on Wall Street comes as traders look to pick up stocks at somewhat
reduced levels following the steep drop seen on Thursday, which partly reflected
a rotation out of leading tech stocks like Nvidia (NVDA).

Shares of Nvidia are currently jumping by 2.6 percent after the AI darling
plunger by 5.6 percent in the previous session.

Traders also remain optimistic about the outlook for interest rates even though
the Labor Department released a report showing producer prices in the U.S.
increased by slightly more than expected in the month of June.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand rose by 0.2
percent in June following a revised unchanged reading in May.

Economists had expected producer prices to inch up by 0.1 percent compared to
the 0.2 percent dip originally reported for the previous month.

The report also said the annual rate of producer price growth accelerated to 2.6
percent in June from an upwardly revised 2.4 percent in May.

The annual rate of producer price growth was expected to creep up to 2.3 percent
from the 2.2 percent originally reported for the previous month.

Despite the advance by the broader markets, shares of Wells Fargo (WFC) have
moved sharply lower after the company reported weaker than expected net interest
income for the second quarter.

Financial giants JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Citigroup (C) have also moved to the
downside after reporting their second quarter results.

Sector News

Housing stocks are extending the surge seen in the previous session, with the
Philadelphia Housing Sector Index jumping by 2.1 percent to a nearly two-month
intraday high.

Substantial strength is also visible among semiconductor stocks, which are
rebounding following the sell-off seen on Thursday. The Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index is up by 2.0 percent after plunging by 3.5 percent in the
previous session.

Networking stocks have also shown a strong move to the upside on the day,
driving the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 1.7 percent.

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

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a
mixed performance during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index plummeted
by 2.5 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged up by 2.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day.
While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.3 percent, the German DAX Index is up
by 1.0 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have shown a lack of direction after moving
sharply higher in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark
ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis
point at 4.202 percent.



Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved

Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX