Stocks Move Mostly Lower After Seeing Initial Volatility - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After seeing some initial volatility, stocks have moved mostly lower over the course of early trading on Thursday. The major averages have slid firmly into negative territory, adding to the losses posted in the previous session.

The major averages have seen some further downside in recent trading, hitting new lows for the young session. The Dow is down 43.02 points or 0.3 percent at 15,575.74, the Nasdaq is down 18.66 points or 0.5 percent at 3,911.96 and the S&P 500 is down 5.16 points or 0.3 percent at 1,758.15.

The early weakness on Wall Street comes as traders continue to react negatively to yesterday's monetary policy announcement from the Federal Reserve.

While the Fed maintained the pace of its asset purchases at $85 billion a month as was widely expected, the accompanying statement was seen as less dovish than anticipated.

The statement from the Fed's monetary policy committee largely excluded any reference to the recent government shutdown and omitted previous remarks suggesting that tightening financial conditions could slow the pace of improvement in the economy and labor market.

The two key omissions raised concerns that the Fed might not delay plans to begin tapering its stimulus program for as long as previously anticipated.

On the economic front, the Labor Department recently released a report showing that initial jobless claims fell by less than expected in the week ended October 26th.

The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 340,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 350,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to 335,000.

After several weeks of distortions, the Labor Department suggested that the latest numbers were clean, as California addressed its technical issues and the federal government was reopened.

Meanwhile, MNI Indicators released a report showing a substantial acceleration in the pace of growth in Chicago-area business activity in the month of October.

MNI Indicators said the Chicago Business Barometer jumped to 65.9 in October from 55.7 in September, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in Chicago-area business activity. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 55.0

Gold stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside on the day, moving lower along with the price of the precious metal. With gold for December delivery plunging $27 to $1,322.30 an ounce, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index has tumbled by 2.4 percent.

Trucking, housing, and natural gas stocks have also come under pressure in early trading, while most of the other major sectors have shown more modest moves to the downside.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.2 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended the day down by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have turned mixed on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved modestly lower, extending the pullback seen late in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 1.1 basis points at 2.538 percent.