Dow Rebounds Back Above 20,000

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure early in the session, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday.

The major averages recovered from initial weakness to end the day in positive territory. The Dow jumped 188.27 points or 1 percent to 20,087.19, the Nasdaq surged up 160.73 points or 2.3 percent to 7,150.58 and the S&P 500 climbed 11.29 points or 0.5 percent to 2,409.39.

Significant strength was visible among networking stocks, as reflected by the 7.6 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.

Housing, computer hardware, and oil service stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, while notable weakness was visible among utilities and pharmaceutical stocks.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled by 2.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets showed strong moves to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index spiked by 2.7 percent, the German DAX Index jumped by 2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index surged up by 1.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries regained ground after moving sharply lower over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 14.7 basis points to 1.119 percent.