Stocks Close Mixed Following Lackluster Trading Day - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After trending higher over the past few sessions, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout the trading day on Thursday. The major averages spent the session bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before ending the day mixed.

While the major averages closed on opposite sides of the unchanged line, they all showed only modest moves. The Dow edged down 16.31 points or 0.1 percent to 16,408.54, while the Nasdaq crept up 9.29 points or 0.2 percent to 4,095.52 and the S&P 500 inched up 2.54 points or 0.1 percent to 1,864.85.

Despite the mixed performance on the day, the major averages all moved notably higher for the week. The S&P 500 surged up by 2.7 percent, while the Dow and the Nasdaq both jumped by 2.4 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make any significant move ahead of the long weekend.

A mixed reaction to the latest batch of earnings news also contributed to the lackluster performance by the broader markets.

While Morgan Stanley (MS) and General Electric (GE) moved notably higher after reporting their quarterly results, Google (GOOG) and IBM (IBM) saw significant weakness.

Later in the session, some positive sentiment was generated by news that officials from the U.S., Russia, Ukraine and the European Union have reached an agreement on a preliminary plan for ending the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

Secretary of State John Kerry said the plan is aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine but stressed that no agreement has been reached on Crimea.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off the day's economic data, including a report from the Labor Department showing a smaller than expected increase in weekly jobless claims.

The report said initial jobless claims inched up to 304,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level of 302,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to climb to 315,000 from the 300,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Even with the upward revision, the number of jobless claims in the previous week was still at the lowest level in almost seven years.

A separate report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve showed that regional manufacturing activity has accelerated by much more than anticipated in the month of April.

Sector News

Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, contributing to the lackluster close by the broader markets.

Semiconductor stocks saw considerable strength, however, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surging up by 1.9 percent. With the gain, the index climbed further off the one-month closing low that it set last Friday.

SanDisk (SNDK) helped to lead the semiconductor sector higher, with the chipmaker jumping by 9.4 percent after reporting better than expected first quarter earnings.

Natural gas stocks also moved notably higher on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index up by 1.5 percent. The gain extended a recent upward move by the index, which reached a record closing high amid an increase by the price of natural gas.

Networking, brokerage, and oil service stocks also showed strong moves to the upside on the day, while significant weakness was visible among utilities and gold stocks.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index closed nearly flat, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged up by 0.3 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index dipped by 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index advanced by 1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both ended the day up by 0.6 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries fell sharply on the heels of the upbeat economic data and the news regarding Ukraine. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped 8.4 basis points to 2.721 percent.

Looking Ahead

Next week's trading may be driven by any further developments in Ukraine as well as economic reports on new and existing home sales and durable goods orders.

Earnings news is also likely to remain in focus, with Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX), McDonald's (MCD), Travelers (TRV), AT&T (T), 3M (MMM), Caterpillar (CAT), UPS (UPS), and Amazon (AMZN) among the slew of companies due to report their quarterly results.