WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the mixed performance seen in the previous session, stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. The major averages have all moved to the upside on the day, reaching new record intraday highs.
Currently, the major averages are just off their highs of the session. The Dow is up 526.11 points or 1.2 percent at 46,017.03, the S&P 500 is up 45.98 points or 0.7 percent at 6,578.02 and the Nasdaq is up 134.27 points or 0.6 percent at 22,020.33.
The strength on Wall Street comes as traders digest separate Labor Department reports on consumer price inflation and weekly jobless claims.
A closely watched Labor Department report showed U.S. consumer prices rose by slightly more than expected in the month of August.
The Labor Department said its consumer price index climbed by 0.4 percent in August after inching up by 0.2 percent in July. Economists had expected consumer prices to rise by 0.3 percent.
The report also said the annual rate of consumer price growth accelerated to 2.9 percent in August from 2.7 percent in July, in line with economist estimates.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, rose by 0.3 percent in August, matching the increase seen in July as well as expectations.
The annual rate of core consumer price growth in August was unchanged from the previous month at 3.1 percent, in line with economist estimates.
The Labor Department also released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased in the week ended September 6th.
The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 263,000, an increase of 27,000 from the previous week's revised level of 236,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 235,000 from the 237,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the unexpected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 268,000 in the week ended October 23, 2021.
While consumer prices rose slightly faster than expected on a monthly basis, the annual growth in line with estimates along with signs of weakness in the labor market has added to recent optimism about the outlook for interest rates.
Following the reports, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 88.8 percent chance the Federal Reserve will lower rates by a quarter-point next week and a slim 11.2 percent chance of a half- point rate cut.
Sector News
Interest rate-sensitive housing stocks are turning in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index surging by 2.4 percent.
Considerable strength is also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.
Networking, biotechnology and healthcare stocks are also seeing significant strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock market across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1.2 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index surged by 1.7 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have pulled back off their best levels but remain modestly higher. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.3 basis points at 4.019 percent.
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