WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks remain mostly positive in mid-day trading on Thursday, although the Dow continues to buck the uptrend amid a steep drop by shares of Boeing (BA).
Currently, the Dow is down 18.91 points or 0.1 percent at 26,517.91, with a 2.3 percent drop by Boeing weighing on the blue chip index.
Boeing came under pressure after the FAA said it recently discovered a new potential risk with the 737 Max aircraft that the aerospace giant must mitigate before the plane is returned to service.
On the other hand, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 33.51 points or 0.4 percent at 7,943.48 and the S&P 500 is up 8.34 points or 0.3 percent at 2,922.12 after closing lower for four straight sessions.
The advance by the broader indexes comes as traders look ahead to the highly anticipated G20 meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump and Xi are not expected to come out of the meeting with a finalized trade deal, but traders will be looking for signs of progress toward kick-starting the stalled negotiations between the two economic superpowers.
A report from the Wall Street Journal said Xi plans to present Trump with a set of terms the U.S. should meet before Beijing is ready to settle the trade dispute.
Lifting the ban on the sale of U.S. technology to Chinese telecom giant Huawei, removing all tariffs and dropping efforts to get China to buy more U.S. exports are reportedly among the preconditions.
However, Trump is not likely to appreciate Xi dictating terms and has repeatedly threatened to escalate the trade war with new tariffs on the remaining Chinese imports.
Some positive sentiment was generated by a report from the National Association of Realtors showing pending home sales rebounded by slightly more than anticipated in the month of May.
NAR said its pending home sales index surged up by 1.1 percent to 105.4 in May after tumbling by 1.5 percent to 104.3 in April. Economists had expected the index to increase by 1.0 percent.
A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department released a separate report showing first-time claims for unemployment benefits increased by more than expected in the week ended June 22nd.
The report said initial jobless claims rose to 227,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week's revised level of 217,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 220,000.
Sector News
Transportation stocks are turning in some of the market's best performances in mid-day trading, with the Dow Jones Transportation Average climbing by 1.3 percent.
Significant strength is also visible among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index.
Brokerage and semiconductor stocks are also seeing notable strength on the day, while gold stocks are moving lower along with the price of the precious metal.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged up by 1.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets once again turned mixed on the day. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved back to the upside following the pullback seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.5 basis points at 2.024 percent.
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