Stocks have moved back to the upside in early trading on Friday after moving mostly lower over the course of the two previous sessions. The major averages have climbed firmly into positive territory but remain well off their recent highs.
The major averages have pulled back off their highs for the young session in the past few minutes but are currently holding on to modest gains. The Dow is up 45.94 points or 0.3 percent at 13,926.56, the Nasdaq is up 10.61 points or 0.3 percent at 3,142.10 and the S&P 500 is up 4.83 points or 0.3 percent at 1,507.25.
The early strength on Wall Street comes as some traders are buying on the dip seen over the two previous sessions, picking up stocks at somewhat reduced levels.
A positive reaction to quarterly results from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has also generated some buying interest, with the tech giant surging up by 6.1 percent.
After the close of trading on Thursday, HP reported fiscal first quarter earnings that fell year-over-year but exceeded analyst estimates. The company also reported better than expected revenues and forecast second quarter earnings above expectations.
The markets have also benefited from a rally by European stocks, which are rebounding following the release of a positive German business sentiment reading.
The Ifo Institute said its German business climate index rose for the fourth straight month, climbing to 107.4 in February from 104.3 in January. With the increase, the index reached a ten-month high, coming in well above economist estimates for a reading of a 104.9.
While the upward move by shares of HP is contributing to notable strength in the computer hardware sector, most of the other major sectors have shown more modest moves to the upside. Moderate strength is visible among natural gas, semiconductor, and banking stocks.
Continued concerns about the near-term outlook have helped limit the upside for the markets, with some analysts suggesting that stocks need to see a bigger correction before seeing further strength.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Friday after ending the previous session sharply lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.7 percent, while Australia's All Ordinaries Index rose by 0.8 percent.
The major European markets are also seeing notable strength but have pulled back off their best levels. While the French CAC 40 Index remains up by 1.8 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index are up by 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.
In the bond market, treasuries are lingering near the unchanged line amid a lack of major U.S. economic data. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is unchanged at 1.976 percent.
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May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.