US Market Updates
11/4/2009 12:41 PM ET
(RTTNews) -
Stocks are posting notable gains in early afternoon trading on Wednesday, boosted earlier by positive reactions to lukewarm economic reports ahead of today's interest rate announcement from the Federal Reserve. The major averages are all in positive territory, although they have moved off of their best levels of the day.
This morning, the Institute for Supply Management said that activity in the service sector grew for the second consecutive month in October, although the pace of growth unexpectedly slowed compared to the previous month.
Earlier, Automatic Data Processing reported that private sector employment continued to decrease in October, with the pace of job losses slowing for the seventh consecutive month.
Shortly, traders will hone in on the latest interest rate announcement and economic commentary from the Federal Reserve, scheduled to be made public at 2:15 p.m. ET.
Although the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will focus on any remarks regarding its exit strategy, the sustainability of the economic recovery as well as commentary on the downtrodden labor market.
While the major averages have pulled back well off their highs for the session, they currently remain firmly positive. The Dow is currently up 120.46 at 9,892.37, the Nasdaq is up 14.21 at 2,071.53 and the S&P 500 is up 10.75 at 1,056.16.
Sector News
Health insurance stocks continue to post strong gains in early afternoon trading, with the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index currently up 5.1 percent. The gain has propelled the index out of a recent trading range and lifted it to its best intraday level in over a month.
The strength in the sector comes as Republican victories in gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey have generated optimism that more liberal healthcare reforms will face increased opposition on Capitol Hill.
Semiconductor stocks are also showing notable strength, as reflected by the 1.5 percent gain being shown by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The index is recovering from Tuesday's two and a half month closing low.
Micron (MU) is turning in one of the sector's best performances, advancing by 3.6 percent after ending the previous session at its worst closing level in three months.
Steel, pharmaceutical, housing, utility and natural gas stocks are also moving higher, reflecting the day's broad based rally.
Meanwhile, trucking and electronic storage stocks have seen some further downside. The pullback in the trucking sector comes after Con-way (CNW) reported third quarter earnings that fell short of Wall Street estimates.
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