U.S. Stocks Remain Mostly Positive In Mid-Day Trading

(RTTNews) - After moving to the upside early in the session, stocks remain mostly positive in mid-day trading on Thursday. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have reached new record intraday highs, although trading activity has remained subdued following the holiday on Wednesday.

Currently, the major averages are holding on to gains. The Dow is up 61.50 points or 0.2 percent at 28,576.95, the Nasdaq is up 47.88 points or 0.5 percent at 9,000.76 and the S&P 500 is up 10.08 points or 0.3 percent at 3,233.46.

The markets continue to benefit from recent upward momentum, which has helped stocks continually reach new record highs in recent sessions.

The likely signing of a phase one U.S.-China trade deal has helped to maintain positive sentiment on Wall Street over the past couple weeks.

Stocks have continued to trudge higher despite a lack of major catalysts, with traders seemingly reluctant to cash in on recent gains amid worries about missing out on further upside.

Window dressing and the so-called Santa Claus rally may continue to propel stocks higher even as trading remains subdued due to the Christmas and New Year's Day holidays.

Adding to the positive sentiment, the Labor Department released a report showing a continued pullback in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended December 21st.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 222,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level of 235,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 224,000 from the 234,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Jobless claims fell for the second straight week after reaching their highest level since September of 2017 in the week ended December 7th.

Sector News

Despite the advance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves in mid-day trading.

Natural gas stocks continue to see notable strength, however, with the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index up by 1 percent after reaching a three-month intraday high.

Computer hardware, retail and tobacco stocks are also seeing some strength on the day, while significant weakness is visible among biotechnology stocks.

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (SPPI) is posting a steep loss after the biopharmaceutical company said its experimental treatment for non-small cell lung cancer did not meet its primary endpoint in a mid-stage trial.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 0.6 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index advanced by 0.9 percent.

Meanwhile, following the Christmas Day holiday on Wednesday, markets in Europe remained closed on Thursday in observance of Boxing Day.

In the bond market, treasuries are showing a lack of direction after ending the previous session moderately higher. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 1.916 percent.