Stocks Move Mostly Lower After Seeing Early Volatility - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After initially seeing some volatility, stocks have moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The pullback on the day is extending the downward move seen in the previous session, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq falling to its lowest intraday level in well over a month.

The major averages have regained some ground in the past few minutes but remain in the red. The Dow is down 33.11 points or 0.2 percent at 16,235.88, the Nasdaq is down 30.17 points or 0.7 percent at 4,143.41 and the S&P 500 is down 7.30 points or 0.4 percent at 1,845.26.

The weakness that has emerged on Wall Street comes as traders digest the latest batch of U.S. economic data, including reports on weekly jobless claims and pending home sales.

The Labor Department released a report before the start of trading showing that initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell to a nearly four-month low last week.

The report showed that initial jobless claims fell to 311,000 in the week ended March 22nd, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 321,000.

While the decrease surprised economists and points to strength in the labor market, the data has renewed concerns about the outlook for monetary policy.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing that pending home sales fell for the eighth straight month in February.

NAR said its pending home sales index dropped by 0.8 percent to 93.9 in February after edging down by 0.2 percent to a downwardly revised 94.7 in January.

With the decrease, NAR said the pending home sales index fell to its lowest level since hitting 92.2 in October of 2011.

The Commerce Department also released a report showing an upward revision to fourth quarter GDP growth, although the data has largely been shrugged off as old news.

Sector News

After turning lower over the course of the previous session, airline stocks are seeing some further downside. The NYSE Arca Airline Index has fallen by 1.5 percent, pulling back further off the nearly twelve-year high set in early trading on Wednesday.

Spirit Airlines (SAVE), Hawaiian Airlines (HA), and SkyWest (SKYW) are turning in some of the airline sector's worst performances.

Banking stocks have also come under pressure on the day, dragging the Dow Jones Banks Index down by 1.4 percent. Citigroup (C) is leading the sector lower, tumbling by 5.7 percent after failing the Federal Reserve's stress test.

Brokerage, chemical, and semiconductor stocks have also moved to the downside, while some strength remains visible among natural gas and telecom 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 advanced by 1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped by 0.8 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index have all fallen by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved modestly higher over the course of the session after seeing initial weakness. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.4 basis points at 2.677 percent.