WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have moved modestly higher during trading on Wednesday, extending the upward move seen over the course of yesterday's choppy session. Buying interest has remained somewhat subdued, however, limiting the upside for the major averages.
Currently, the major averages are just off their highs of the session. The Dow is up 132.99 points or 0.3 percent at 45,551.06, the S&P 500 is up 11.90 points or 0.2 percent at 6,477.84 and the Nasdaq is up 24.49 points or 0.1 percent at 21,568.76.
The modest strength on Wall Street comes as traders look ahead to the release of highly-anticipated earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA).
Nvidia, which is scheduled to release its second quarter results after the close of today's trading, is currently nearly unchanged on the day.
However, traders seem reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of Nvidia's results, with a lack of major U.S. economic data also keeping some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of a closely watched report later in the week.
On Friday, the Commerce Department is due to release its report on personal income and spending in the month of July, which includes the Federal Reserve's preferred readings on consumer price inflation.
The report, which is expected to show an uptick in the annual rate of core consumer price growth to 2.9 percent in July from 2.8 percent in June, could impact the outlook for interest rates.
CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 88.2 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point at its next monetary policy meeting in September.
Reports on weekly jobless claims and pending home sales may also attract attention in the coming days along with a revised reading on second quarter GDP.
Sector News
While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, oil service stocks have moved notably higher.
Reflecting the strength in the sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index is up by 1.2 percent after reaching its best intraday level in almost five months.
The strength among oil service stocks comes amid an increase by the price of crude oil, with crude for October delivery climbing $0.53 to $63.78 a barrel.
Oil producer, networking and computer hardware stocks are also seeing some strength on the day, while gold stocks have moved to the downside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.3 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index plunged by 1.8 percent.
The major European markets are also mixed on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.7 percent.
In the bond market, short-term and long-term treasuries are moving in opposite directions. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 1.1 basis points at 4.267 percent, while the yield on the two-year note is down by 3.4 basis points at 3.643 percent.
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