Stocks Turn Lower After Seeing Initial Strength - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After seeing initial strength, stocks have moved mostly lower over the course of morning trading on Thursday. The major averages have all pulled back into negative territory after ending the previous session mixed.

In recent trading, the major averages have climbed off their lows for the session. The Dow is down 3.02 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 18,196.31, the Nasdaq is down 13.08 points or 0.3 percent at 5,237.18 and the S&P 500 is down 3.03 points or 0.1 percent at 2,136.40.

The downturn by stocks comes as traders react to the latest batch of earnings news, with a slew of well-known companies releasing their quarterly results.

Shares of Nokia (NOK) have shown a notable move to the downside after the telecom equipment company reported a third consecutive quarterly loss.

Auto parts retailer O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY) has also come under pressure after reporting third quarter earnings growth but providing disappointing guidance.

On the other hand, shares of Western Digital (WDC) have shown a strong move to the upside after the disk drive maker reported better than expected third quarter results.

Ford (F), Twitter (TWTR), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Dow Chemical (DOW), and UPS (UPS) are among the other big-name companies that have released their quarterly results.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended October 22nd.

The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 258,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 261,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 255,000.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed an unexpected drop in durable goods orders in the month of September.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders dipped by 0.1 percent in September after rising by a revised 0.3 percent in August. Orders had been expected to rise by 0.2 percent.

Excluding orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose by 0.2 percent in September after inching up by a revised 0.1 percent in August. Economists had expected ex-transportation orders to tick up by 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a significant rebound in pending home sales in the month of September.

NAR said its pending home sales index jumped by 1.5 percent to 110.0 in September after tumbling by 2.5 percent to a revised 108.4 in August. Economists had expected pending sales to climb by 1.0 percent.

A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.

Commercial real estate stocks have shown a significant move to the downside on the day, dragging the Morgan Stanley REIT Index down by 2.5 percent. The index has fallen to a seven-month intraday low.

Networking, gold, and housing stocks are also seeing considerable weakness, while notable strength is visible among electronic storage and brokerage stocks.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid by 0.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have turned mixed on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index are down by 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasuries have shown a significant move to the downside. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 6.9 basis points at 1.859 percent.