Stocks Remain Mostly Positive Following Early Upward Move - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After moving mostly higher in early trading on Wednesday, stocks have continued to perform well over the course of the session. While buying interest has waned since then open, the markets have maintained a positive bias on the day.

Currently, the major averages are posting notable gains, near their highs for the session. The Dow is up 104.97 points or 0.7 percent at 16,367.53, the Nasdaq is up 29.53 points or 0.7 percent at 4,063.69 and the S&P 500 is up 11.54 points or 0.6 percent at 1,854.52.

A positive reaction to the latest earnings news is contributing to the strength on Wall Street, with shares of Yahoo (YHOO) surging higher after the online media giant reported its first quarter results.

Yahoo released its quarterly results after the close of trading on Tuesday, reporting earnings and revenues that exceeded analyst estimates.

Semiconductor giant Intel (INTC) is posting a more modest gain after reporting better than expected first quarter earnings but on revenues that came in just shy of expectations.

Looking ahead, Intel forecast full-year gross margin of 61 percent, plus or minus a few percentage points, 1 percentage point higher than its previous estimate.

Positive sentiment was also generated by a report from the Federal Reserve showing a bigger than expected increase in industrial production in the month of March.

The report said industrial production increased by 0.7 percent in March after surging up by an upwardly revised 1.2 percent in February. Economists had been expecting production to rise by about 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a separate report showing that housing starts rose by less than expected in March.

The report showed that housing starts climbed 2.8 percent to an annual rate of 946,000 in March, but economists had been expecting starts to surge up to an annual rate of 970,000.

Sector News

Biotechnology stocks have shown a particularly strong move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index up by 2.8 percent. With the gain, the index is climbing further off the three-month closing low that it set on Monday.

ImmunoGen (IMGN) is leading the biotech sector higher, with the developer of targeted anticancer therapeutics surging up by 13.5 percent after Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage of the company's stock with a Buy rating.

Significant strength is also visible among brokerage stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index. Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is posting a standout gain after reporting better than expected first quarter earnings.

Chemical, airline, and natural gas stocks are also seeing notable strength in mid-day trading, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Meanwhile, semiconductor stocks are seeing some weakness on the day despite the better than expected earnings from industry giant Intel.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index soared by 3 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index edged up by 0.2 percent.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index jumped by 1.4 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasuries are seeing modest weakness but have climbed off their worst levels of the session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 1.5 basis points at 2.643 percent.