U.S. Stocks Seeing Continued Strength In Afternoon Trading

(RTTNews) - After moving mostly higher early in the session, stocks have seen further upside over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages are extending the substantial rebound seen during the previous session.

In recent trading, the Dow and the S&P 500 have once again reached new highs for the session. The Dow is up 856.83 points or 2.6 percent at 34,080.66, the Nasdaq is up 180.59 points or 1.3 percent at 13,654.17 and the S&P 500 is up 94.33 points or 2.2 percent at 4,383.03.

The rally on Wall Street comes as traders continue to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the sell-off seen in recent sessions.

The major averages showed a notable rebound from multi-month intraday lows during trading on Thursday but remain well off their recent highs.

Concerns about the eventual Russian invasion of Ukraine weighed on the markets late last week and early this week, although some analysts have called the selling overdone.

While the U.S. and its allies have imposed severe sanctions on Russia in response to the attack, the measures are not seen as crippling as some had feared.

The West's seeming unwillingness to target Russia's energy sector has helped ease worries about a spike in oil and gas prices fueling further inflation.

After reaching a high above $100 a barrel in the previous session, crude for April delivery is tumbling $1.63 to $91.18 a barrel.

News that Russia is prepared to send a delegation to Belarusian capital Minsk for talks about Ukraine has also contributed to the positive sentiment.

Russia's apparent willingness to hold talks comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled we has open to discussing Ukraine's "neutral status."

Sector News

Steel stocks continue to turn in some of the market's best performances in afternoon trading, with the NYSE Arca Steel Index soaring by 5.3 percent.

Substantial strength also remains visible among banking stocks, as reflected by the 4.1 percent spike by the KBW Bank Index.

Pharmaceutical stocks also continue to see considerable strength, resulting in a 3.9 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index.

Utilities, housing, chemical and healthcare stocks have also moved notably higher on the day, reflecting broad based buying interest.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.6 percent.

The major European markets also showed substantial moves to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index soared by 3.9 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index spiked by 3.7 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved lower over the course of the session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.9 basis points at 1.998 percent.