U.S. Stocks Regain Ground After Initially Extending Yesterday's Sell-Off

(RTTNews) - Stocks initially extended yesterday's sell-off but have shown a significant recovery attempt over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages have climbed well off their worst levels of the day, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reaching positive territory.

Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. The Nasdaq is up 66.30 points or 0.3 percent at 22,936.66 and the S&P 500 is up 0.97 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 6,738.46, although the narrower Dow remains down 325.87 points or 0.7 percent at 47,131.35.

Weakness among technology stocks continued to weigh on Wall Street early in the session amid lingering valuation concerns.

However, tech heavyweights Nvidia (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) have moved to the upside over the course of the session after initial weakness.

Shares of Palantir Technologies (PLTR) have also jumped by 1.1 percent after the software company hit its lowest intraday level in almost two months.

While some traders used the initial slump as an opportunity to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels, buying interest remains somewhat subdued amid uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

Recent comments from Federal Reserve officials as well as indications key U.S. economic data may never be released due to the government shutdown have reduced confidence the central bank will continue lowering interest rates next month.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicates the chances of another quarter point rate cut at the next Fed meeting have slumped to 49.6 percent from 66.9 percent a week ago.

Sector News

Computer hardware stocks have shown a substantial rebound after leading the markets lower in the previous session, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index surging by 3.0 percent after plummeting by 7.0 percent on Thursday.

A spike by the price of crude oil is also contributing to significant strength among energy stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent gains being posted by both the Philadelphia Oil Service Index and the NYSE Arca Oil Index.

On the other hand, airline stocks are extending the slump seen in the previous session, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 1.5 percent.

Gold stocks are also seeing notable weakness amid a steep drop by the price of the precious metal, resulting in a 1.2 percent decline by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dove by 1.8 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slumped by 1.0 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.9 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.7 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have pulled back near the unchanged line after seeing initial strength. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by up by less than a basis point at 4.117 percent after hitting a low of 4.065 percent.