U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Higher As Banking Concerns Continue To Ease

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday, adding to the strong gains posted in the previous session. With the continued upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in over a month.

The major averages gave back ground after an early advance but moved back to the upside as the day progressed. The Nasdaq advanced 87.24 points or 0.7 percent to 12,013.47, the S&P 500 climbed 23.02 points or 0.6 percent to 4,050.83 and the Dow rose 141.43 points or 0.4 percent to 32,859.03.

The continued strength on Wall Street came as concerns about turmoil in the banking sector continued to ease after sparking substantial volatility on Wall Street in recent weeks.

A lack of major negative developments regarding the banking industry in recent days has led to confidence the situation has stabilized.

Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to Friday's report on personal income and spending, which includes a reading on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve and could have an impact on the outlook for interest rates.

With the Fed signaling last week that it expects just one more interest rate increase this year, traders will look to the data for clues about the timing of the final rate hike.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicates a 50.9 percent chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged at its next meeting in early May and a 49.1 percent chance of a 25 basis point increase.

On the economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended March 25th.

The report said initial jobless claims rose to 198,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 191,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 196,000.

A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed the U.S. economy grew by slightly less than previously estimated in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The report said real gross domestic product shot up by 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the previously reported 2.7 percent jump. Economists had expected the pace of growth to be unrevised.

The Commerce Department said the slower than previously estimated growth reflected downward revisions to exports and consumer spending.

Sector News

Airline stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 1.8 percent.

Significant strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The index reached its best closing level in almost a year.

Gold stocks also saw considerable strength amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, resulting in a 1.6 percent advance by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.

Tobacco, steel and tobacco stocks also showed notable moves to the upside, while banking and oil service stocks gave back ground.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Thursday, although Japan's Nikkei 225 Index bucked the uptrend and fell by 0.4 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.7 percent, while South Korea's Kospi rose by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged by 1.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.7 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries showed a lack of direction for much of the session before closing modestly higher. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down 1.5 basis points to 3.551 percent.

Looking Ahead

The inflation reading contained in the personal income and spending report is likely to be in the spotlight on Friday, overshadowing separate reports on consumer sentiment and Chicago-area business activity.