WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have shown a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Friday, with the major averages bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line following the substantial downturn seen in the previous session.
Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. While the Dow is up 99.49 points or 0.2 percent at 45,851.75, the S&P 500 is down 12.67 points or 0.2 percent at 6,526.09 and the Nasdaq is down 139.21 points or 0.6 percent at 21,938.84.
The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders express some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following the significant downward trend seen over the past several sessions.
The recent weakness has dragged the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 down to their lowest levels in well over two months.
While bargain hunting on the heels of upbeat results from Nvidia (NVDA) contributed to an early rally on Thursday, buying interest evaporated over the course of the session amid ongoing concerns about valuations and the outlook for interest rates.
Nvida led the subsequent downturn during yesterday's session and has seen further downside today, tumbling by 2.5 percent to a two-month intraday low.
Stocks had appeared poised for a rebound following dovish remarks by New York Federal Reserve President John Williams.
During remarks at the Central Bank of Chile Centennial Conference, Williams described monetary policy as being 'modestly restrictive' and said he sees 'room for a further adjustment' to rates in the near term.
Seemingly in response to Williams' remarks, CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicates the chances of a quarter point rate cut at the Fed's December meeting have soared to 75.3 percent from just 39.1 percent on Thursday.
However, it is worth noting that the minutes of the latest Fed meeting revealed officials have 'strongly differing views' about whether to continue cutting rates in December.
Sector News
Despite the lackluster performance by the broader markets, housing stocks have moved sharply higher on the day, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 3.5 percent.
Substantial strength is also visible among transportation stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent surge by the Dow Jones Transportation Average.
On the other hand, semiconductor stocks are extending their recent sell-off, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 2.4 percent.
Software, networking and computer hardware stocks are also seeing notable weakness, contributing to the decrease by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved sharply lower during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index both tumbled by 2.4 percent, while South Korea's Kospi nosedived by 3.8 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.7 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are extending the upward move seen over the course of the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price is down by 3.7 basis points at 4.069 percent.
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