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After ending the previous session on opposite sides of the unchanged line, the major U.S. stock indexes are turning in another mixed performance in morning trading on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has rebounded after ending Wednesday’s trading modestly lower, while the Dow is giving back ground.<\/p>\n
Currently, the Nasdaq is up 59.06 points or 0.4 percent at 15,180.74. The S&P 500 has also joined the Nasdaq in positive territory, inching up 1.02 points or less than a tenth of percent to 4,537.21, while the Dow is down 84.33 points or 0.2 percent at 35,525.01.<\/p>\n
The modest pullback by the Dow comes after the blue chip index reached a new record intraday high during the trading session on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
A steep drop by shares of IBM Corp. (IBM) is weighing on the Dow, with the tech giant tumbling by 7.1 percent after reporting weaker than expected third quarter revenues.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, shares of Tesla (TSLA) have moved notably higher after the electric car maker reported better than expected third quarter results.<\/p>\n
AT&T (T) has also edged higher after the telecom giant reported third quarter results that beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines.<\/p>\n
Traders are also digesting the latest batch of U.S. economic data, including a report from the Labor Department showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged lower in the week ended October 16th.<\/p>\n
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims slipped to 290,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 296,000.<\/p>\n
The modest decrease surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to inch up to 300,000 from the 293,000 originally reported for the previous week.<\/p>\n
With the unexpected dip, jobless claims once again fell to their lowest level since hitting 256,000 in the week ended March 14, 2020.<\/p>\n
The National Association of Realtors also released a report showing existing home sales rebounded by much more than expected in the month of September.<\/p>\n
NAR said existing home sales spiked by 7.0 percent to an annual rate of 6.29 million in September after slumping by 2.0 percent to a rate of 5.88 million in August. Economists had expected existing home sales to jump by 3.6 percent to a rate of 6.09 million.<\/p>\n
Existing home sales reached their highest annual rate since January but were still down by 2.3 percent compared to the same month a year ago.<\/p>\n
Reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets<\/span>, most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day.<\/p>\n Steel stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside, however, with the NYSE Arca Steel Index tumbling by 2.6 percent.<\/p>\n Oil service and natural gas stocks have also moved to the downside on the day, while strength is visible among computer hardware and transportation stocks.<\/p>\n In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index plunged by 1.9 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index inched up by 0.2 percent.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index has fallen by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are both down by 0.1 percent.<\/p>\n In the bond market, treasuries have come under pressure after ending the previous session nearly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 3.5 basis points at 1.671 percent. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Business News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n