Stocks Nearly Flat For Second Straight Session - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks are turning in another lackluster performance during trading on Friday after ending the previous session nearly flat. The major averages have spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

Currently, the major averages continue to linger near the unchanged line. While the Nasdaq is up 0.33 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 4,946.21, the Dow is down 10.17 points or 0.1 percent at 17,916.26 and the S&P 500 is down 1.30 points or 0.1 percent at 2,081.48.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders are looking ahead to a weekend meeting of major oil producing nations.

Amid trepidation ahead of the meeting, the price of crude oil has shown a steep drop on the day, pulling back further off recent highs.

Crude oil for May delivery is currently tumbling $1.17 to $40.33 a barrel after sliding $0.26 to $41.50 a barrel on Thursday.

With the decrease, the price of crude oil is moving lower for the third straight day after ending Tuesday's trading at its highest closing level since late November.

Traders are also digesting the latest batch of U.S. economic data, including a report from the Federal Reserve showing a much bigger than expected drop in industrial production in March.

The Fed said industrial production fell by 0.6 percent in March, matching the downwardly revised drop reported for February. Economists had expected production to edge down by 0.1 percent.

The bigger than expected decrease was primarily due to steep drops in mining and utilities output, although manufacturing output also fell 0.3 percent.

A separate report from the University of Michigan showed an unexpected deterioration in consumer sentiment in the month of April.

Sector News

Extending the steep drop seen in the previous session, computer hardware stocks have shown a significant move to the downside on the day. The NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index has fallen 2.8 percent to its lowest intraday level in well over a month.

Super Micro Computer (SMCI) has helped to lead the hardware sector lower, plunging by 17.4 percent after warning after of weaker than previously expected third quarter results.

Considerable weakness is also visible among networking stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.

Energy stocks are also seeing notable weakness amid the steep drop by the price of crude oil, while gold stocks have moved to the upside amid an increase by the price of the precious metal.

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 fell by 0.4 percent, while Australia's All Ordinaries Index advanced by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both dropped by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved higher on the heels of the disappointing economic data. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 3.1 basis points at 1.75 percent.