U.S. Stocks Move Back To The Upside On Upbeat Earnings News

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session mostly lower, stocks have moved back to the upside over the course of morning trading on Tuesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq briefly pulled back shortly after the start of trading but has since rejoined the Dow and S&P 500 in positive territory.

Currently, the major averages are just off their highs of the session. The Dow is up 269.63 points or 0.8 percent at 33,969.91, the S&P 500 is up 23.89 points or 0.6 percent at 3,973.83 and the Nasdaq is up 24.56 points or 0.2 percent at 11,049.08.

The rebound on Wall Street partly reflects a positive reaction to earnings news from consumer electronics retailer Best Buy (BBY).

Shares of Best Buy are surging by 9.7 percent after the company reported better than expected third quarter results and raised its full-year guidance.

Apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) has also spiked after reporting an unexpected third quarter profit on sales that beat analyst estimates.

Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Fran Horowitz also said the company is "cautiously optimistic" about the holiday shopping season.

On the other hand, shares of Zoom (ZM) have come under pressure after the video conferencing platform reported better than expected third quarter results but provided disappointing guidance.

Overall trading activity remains somewhat subdued, however, with a lack of major U.S. economic data likely to keep some traders on the sidelines.

Reports on durable goods orders and new home sales may attract attention on Wednesday along with the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting, although many traders will already have headed out for the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Gold stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside on the day, resulting in a 4.0 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.

The rally by gold stocks comes amid a modest increase by the price of the precious metal, as gold for December delivery is inching up $5.30 to $1,744.90 an ounce.

A notable increase by the price of crude oil is also contributing to considerable strength among energy stocks, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index surging by 2.9 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index jumping by 2.2 percent.

Natural gas, steel and banking stocks are also seeing notable strength in morning trading, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 0.6 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled b1.3 percent.

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

In the bond market, treasuries have moved higher after ending the previous session roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4.1 basis points at 3.784 percent.