WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have moved mostly higher in morning trading on Friday, extending the upward move seen over the two previous sessions. The continued advance has lifted the tech-heavy Nasdaq to its best intraday level in well over a month.
In recent trading, the major averages have reached new highs for the session. The Nasdaq is up 97.05 points or 0.8 percent at 12,110.53, the S&P 500 is up 24.52 points or 0.6 percent at 4,075.35 and the Dow is up 174.39 points or 0.5 percent at 33,033.42.
The continued strength on Wall Street comes following the release of a Commerce Department showing an unexpected slowdown in the annual rate of core consumer price growth.
The report said core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, jumped 4.6 percent year-over-year in February.
Annual price growth remains elevated, but this represents a slowdown from the 4.7 percent year-over-year spike in January. Economists had expected the pace of growth to be unchanged.
Including food and energy prices, the annual rate of consumer price growth also slowed to 5.0 percent in February from 5.3 percent in January. The pace of overall growth was also expected to be unchanged.
The Commerce Department said consumer prices rose by 0.3 percent on a monthly basis in February following a 0.6 percent advance in January. Economists had expected prices to increase by 0.4 percent.
Core consumer prices also increased by 0.3 percent on a monthly basis in February after climbing by 0.5 percent in January. Core prices were expected to edge up by 0.2 percent.
With the inflation readings said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve, the data had led to some optimism the central bank will hold off on raising interest rates at its next meeting in early May.
The Fed signaled last week that it expects just one more rate increase this year, leaving traders looking for clues about the timing of the final rate hike.
Airline stocks are extending a recent upward trend, resulting in a 1.7 percent advance by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The index is moving higher for the sixth consecutive session.
Notable strength is also visible among networking stocks, as reflected by the 1.0 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.
Biotechnology, computer hardware and steel stocks have also moved to the upside on the day, although buying interest has remained somewhat subdued.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 0.9 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.4 percent.
The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has advanced by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are seeing modest strength in reaction to the inflation data. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.7 basis points at 3.534 percent.
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