U.S. Stocks Continue To Experience Choppy Trading

(RTTNews) - After showing a lack of direction early in the session, stocks continue to turn in a lackluster performance in afternoon trading on Thursday. The major averages have spent much of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

Currently, the major averages are narrowly mixed. While the Nasdaq is up 32.93 points or 0.2 percent at 15,789.58, the S&P 500 is down 2.82 points or 0.1 percent at 4,992.24 and the Dow is down 42.95 points or 0.1 percent at 38,634.41.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders express some uncertainty about whether the markets can sustain their recent upward trend.

The advance seen during Wednesday's session lifted the Dow and S&P 500 to new record closing highs, while the Nasdaq reached its best closing level in two years.

The S&P 500 reached an intraday peak just shy of the 5,000 level, which could prove to be a psychological resistance for the broad market index.

"Trading within such a whisker of the 5,000 level means it would only take the tiniest uptick in investor sentiment to push through this mark," said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell. "It's important from a psychological perspective."

Despite the lackluster performance by the broader markets, shares of Arm Holdings (ARM) have skyrocketed by 57.3 percent after the chipmaker reported better than expected fiscal third quarter results and provided upbeat guidance for the current quarter.

Entertainment giant Disney (DIS) has also soared by 12.8 percent after reporting better than expected fiscal first quarter earnings, boosting its dividend and providing an upbeat forecast.

On the other hand, shares of PayPal (PYPL) have plunged by 11.3 percent after the online payments company reported fourth quarter results that exceeded estimates but provided a disappointing forecast.

Traders have largely shrugged off a Labor Department report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in the week ended February 3rd.

The report said initial jobless claims slipped to 218,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised level of 227,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 220,000 from the 224,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Sector News

Reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors continue to show only modest moves on the day.

Semiconductor stocks continue to see significant strength on the heels of Arm's strong results, however, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surging by 2.0 percent.

Considerable strength is also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.

On the other hand, utilities stocks have come under pressure over the course of the session, dragging the Dow Jones Utility Average down by 1.3 percent.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in another mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 2.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.3 percent.

The major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent and the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.7 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have climbed off their worst levels but remain in negative territory. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 3.1 basis points at 4.141 percent.