WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After failing to sustain a strong move to the upside early in the session, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Thursday.
The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing moderately higher.
The Dow rose 117.03 points or 0.3 percent to 42,215.73, the Nasdaq climbed 74.93 points or 0.4 percent to 19,175.87 and the S&P 500 increased 23.62 points or 0.4 percent to 5,912.17.
Early buying interest was generated in reaction to news that a federal court blocked President Donald Trump's 'reciprocal tariffs' on imports from U.S. trade partners from going into effect.
The Court Of International Trade ruled Trump overstepped his authority to impose the tariffs by invoking emergency economic powers.
'The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs,' the three-judge panel wrote.
The judges also said tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China related to drug trafficking 'fail because they do not deal with the threats set forth in those orders.'
The Trump administration immediately appealed the decision, with an appeals court temporarily pausing the lower court's ruling later in the day.
A positive reaction to earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA) also contributed to initial strength on Wall Street, with the AI darling jumping by 3.2 percent on the day.
The jump by shares of Nvidia came after the company reported fiscal first quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as lingering uncertainty about trade continued to hang over the markets.
Sector News
Reflecting the relatively lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors showed only modest moves on the day.
Biotechnology stocks showed a strong move to the upside, however, with the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index climbing by 1.2 percent.
Oil producer, healthcare and commercial real estate stocks also saw some strength, while computer hardware and networking stocks moved to the downside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 1.9 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent on the day, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both edged down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries moved higher 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, slid 5.3 basis points to 4.424 percent.
Looking Ahead
Trading on Friday may be impacted by reaction to Commerce Department report that includes the Federal Reserve's preferred readings on consumer price inflation.
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