Stocks continue to see considerable strength going into the final hour of trading on Thursday, as traders have gone bargain hunting following recent weakness in the markets. Upbeat trade data has contributed to the positive sentiment on Wall Street.
The major averages have been rangebound in recent trading, holding on to strong gains. The Dow is currently up 127.37 points or 1.1 percent at 12,176.31, the Nasdaq is up 17.75 points or 0.7 percent at 2,693.13 and the S&P 500 is up 14.22 points or 1.1 percent at 1,293.78.
The strength that has emerged on Wall Street is partly due to the release of a report from the Commerce Department showing that the U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in the month of April as the value of exports rose to a record high.
The report showed that the trade deficit narrowed to $43.7 billion in April from a revised $46.8 billion in March. Economists had expected the trade deficit to widen to $49.0 billion from the $48.2 billion originally reported for the previous month.
The unexpectedly narrower deficit came as the value of exports rose by 1.3 percent to a record high of $175.6 billion, while the value of imports fell 0.5 percent to $219.2 billion. The drop in the value of imports was largely due to reduced imports from Japan as a result of the recent earthquake.
Meanwhile, traders have largely shrugged off a separate report from the Labor Department showing an unexpected increase in initial jobless claims in the week ended June 4th.
The Labor Department said jobless claims edged up to 427,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 426,000, while economists had expected claims to slip to 418,000 from the 422,000 originally reported for the previous week.
In corporate news, shares of Texas Instruments (TXN) have turned higher over the course of the trading session even though the chip maker lowered its second quarter guidance. The company attributed the reduced guidance to weak demand from a single customer.
Texas Instruments is currently up by 1.1 percent after hitting its worst intraday level in nearly three months earlier in the day.
Sector News
Considerable strength remains visible among health insurance stocks, as reflected by the 3.2 percent gain currently being shown by the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index. Within the sector, Cigna (CI) is up by 4.6 percent, on pace to end the day at its best closing level in over three years.
The strength among insurance stocks may be partly due to reports that judges on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals appeared sympathetic to claims that the health care reform law is unconstitutional. The court held a hearing on the law on Wednesday.
Oil service and gold stocks are also holding onto strong gains, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index and the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 2.3 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively. The gains come as the price of oil has risen by more than $1 a barrel and the price of gold has risen by $4 an ounce.
Healthcare provider, railroad, and banking stocks are also seeing significant strength on the day, moving to the upside along with most of the major sectors. Meanwhile, some commercial real estate stocks are bucking the uptrend.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stocks markets in the Asia-Pacific region closed mostly lower on Thursday, although Japan's Nikkei 225 Index bucked the downtrend once again, edging up by 0.2 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped by 0.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index plunged by 1.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside over the course of the trading day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.8 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index advanced by 1.1 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.
In the bond market, treasuries have turned lower over the course of the trading day after seeing early strength. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.9 basis points at 2.991 percent.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.