Major Averages Hovering Firmly In Positive Territory

(RTTNews) - After moving notably higher in early trading, stocks have seen some further upside over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The gains on the day have partly offset the pullback seen over the past several sessions.

Tobacco stocks continue to see substantial strength in mid-day trading, with the NYSE Arca Tobacco Index surging up by 4.4 percent. With the gain, the index has reached a new record intraday high.

Alliance One (AOI) has helped to lead the tobacco sector higher, jumping 19 percent to its best intraday level in ten months.

Significant strength also remains visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 2.7 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. A.M. Castle (CAS) and Gibraltar Industries (ROCK) are posting standout gains.

Oil service stocks are also turning in a strong performance, resulting in a 2.1 percent gain by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The strength in the sector comes as crude oil for July delivery is climbing $0.46 to $60.60 a barrel.

Airline, software, and housing stocks are also seeing notable strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

The major averages have moved roughly sideways in recent trading, hovering firmly in positive territory. The Dow is up 248.88 points or 1.4 percent at 18,012.92, the Nasdaq is up 64.37 points or 1.3 percent at 5,078.24 and the S&P 500 is up 25.41 points or 1.2 percent at 2,105.56.