Stocks Close Mostly Higher Ahead Of Long Weekend - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Thursday but managed to end the session mostly higher ahead of the long holiday weekend. The gains on the day partly offset the losses posted in the two previous sessions.

The major averages closed in positive territory but well off their highs for the session. The Dow climbed 65.06 points or 0.4 percent to 17,763.24, the Nasdaq edged up 6.71 points or 0.1 percent to 4,886.94 and the S&P 500 rose 7.27 points or 0.4 percent to 2,066.96.

The strength on Wall Street partly reflected the recent volatility shown by the markets, with the major averages rebounding after moving toward the low end of their recent range during Wednesday's trading.

Traders were also reacting to the latest batch of U.S. economic data, including a report from the Labor Department showing that initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell to a two-month low in the week ended March 28th.

The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 268,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week's revised level of 288,000.

The drop surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to edge up to 285,000 from the 282,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 267,000 in the week ended January 24th.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a separate report showing that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed by much more than anticipated in the month of February.

The report said the trade deficit narrowed to $35.4 billion in February from a revised $42.7 billion in January. Economist had expected the deficit to narrow slightly to $41.5 billion.

The much narrower than expected trade deficit reflected another substantial drop in the value of imports and could lead analysts to raise their forecasts for first quarter GDP growth.

Nonetheless, trading activity was somewhat subdued ahead of tomorrow's monthly jobs report, which is being released even as the markets are closed for the Good Friday holiday.

Economists expect employment to increase by about 247,000 jobs in March after jumping by 295,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at a six-year low of 5.5 percent.

Sector News

Oil service stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 1.7 percent. With the gain, the index reached its best closing level in almost a month.

The strength among oil service stocks came despite a decrease by the price of crude oil, as crude for May delivery fell $0.95 to $49.14 a barrel.

Considerable strength was also visible among natural gas stocks, which moved higher along with the price of their associated commodity.

With natural gas for May delivery climbing $0.108 to $2.713 per million BTUs, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index advanced by 1.7 percent.

Steel, housing, and computer hardware stocks also saw notable strength on the day, while weakness among trucking, airline, and gold stocks helped to limit the upside for the markets.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 1.5 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index slipped by 0.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasuries gave back ground after ending the previous session notably higher. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 3.6 basis points to 1.904 percent.

Looking Ahead

Following the long weekend, traders will finally have a chance to react to the closely watched monthly jobs report next week.

The actual economic calendar for the week is relatively light, however, although traders are likely to keep an eye on service sector activity data and the minutes of the most recent Federal Reserve meeting.

Aluminum giant Alcoa (AA) is also scheduled to release its first quarter results next Wednesday, marking the unofficial start of earnings season.