WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving mostly higher over the three previous sessions, stocks are seeing further upside during trading on Wednesday. The major averages have all climbed firmly into positive territory on the day.
Currently, the major averages are just off their highs of the session. The Dow is up 323.24 points or 0.7 percent at 47,435.69, the Nasdaq is up 173.49 points or 0.8 percent at 23,199.09 and the S&P 500 is up 46.34 points or 0.7 percent at 6,812.22.
Stocks continue to benefit from recent upward momentum, which has helped the major averages rebound strongly from the significant pullback seen earlier in the month.
Traders seem to have shrugged off the valuation concerns that recently weighed on the markets and dragged the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 down to their lowest levels in over two months.
The markets have recently benefitted from renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates following dovish comments from some leading Federal Reserve officials.
CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicates the chances the Fed will lower rates by another quarter point next month have soared to 82.9 percent from just 30.1 percent a week ago.
According to the FedWatch Tool, the chances of a rate cut are little changed from yesterday despite the release of some upbeat U.S. economic data.
The Commerce Department released a long-delayed reported this morning showing new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods increased by more than expected in the month of September.
The report said durable goods orders climbed by 0.5 percent in September after spiking by an upwardly revised 3.0 percent in August.
Economists had expected durable goods orders to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 2.9 percent surge that had been reported for the previous month.
A separate report released by the Labor Department showed an unexpected dip by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended November 22nd.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims slipped to 216,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level of 222,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 225,000 from the 220,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the unexpected dip, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting a matching number in the week ended April 12th.
Sector News
Gold stocks have moved sharply higher amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 3.0 percent to its best intraday level in a month.
Substantial strength is also visible among airline stocks, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 3.0 percent to a one-month intraday high.
Computer hardware and semiconductor stocks are also seeing significant strength, contributing to the continued advance by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Brokerage, steel and natural gas stocks have also shown notable moves to the upside, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1.9 percent and South Korea's Kospi surged by 2.7 percent, although China's Shanghai Composite Index bucked the uptrend and dipped by 0.2 percent.
The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.8 percent the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index are both up by 0.9 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are giving back ground after trending higher over the past several sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 1.7 basis points at 4.019 percent.
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