After moving sharply lower the open, stocks have staged a significant recovery attempt over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The major averages have bounced well off their worst levels of the day and briefly climbed into positive territory.
In recent trading, the major averages have dipped back into the red, although they remain well off their lows. The Dow is down 49.87 points or 0.3 percent at 16,091.87, the Nasdaq is down 21.83 points or 0.5 percent at 4,193.49 and the S&P 500 is down 5.65 points or 0.3 percent at 1,856.84.
The initial weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about global economic growth along with worries about an expansion of the Ebola outbreak in the U.S.
Traders seemed to ignore a batch of largely upbeat U.S. economic data, including reports showing an unexpected drop in initial jobless claims and a bigger than expected increase in industrial production.
James Knightley, an economist at ING Bank, said, "Today's data suggests that the U.S. economy remains in pretty good shape even if bond and equity markets have their doubts."
The subsequent rebound by the markets was largely in reaction to comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard.
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Bullard suggested that the Fed should consider delaying the end of its asset purchase program to halt the decline in inflation expectations.
Bullard also told Bloomberg that U.S. economic fundamentals remain strong and blamed the market turmoil on downgrades in the outlook for Europe.
The Fed has previously indicated that it plans to bring its asset purchase program to a close at its next monetary policy meeting later this month.
Sector News
While many of the major sectors are showing only modest moves in mid-day trading, considerable weakness remains visible among internet stocks. The Dow Jones Internet Index is down by 2.1 percent but has climbed well off its nearly five-month intraday low.
Netflix (NFLX) helped to lead the internet sector lower, with the streaming video company tumbling by 21.7 percent after reporting disappointing third quarter subscriber additions.
Significant weakness also remains visible among retail stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent loss being posted by the Dow Jones Retail Index. SuperValu (SVU) is turning in one of the sector's worst performances after reporting lower second quarter earnings.
Steel, pharmaceutical, and software stocks are also seeing notable weakness on the day, although selling pressure has waned considerably from earlier in the session.
On the other hand, natural gas stocks have shown a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index up by 1.8 percent. Chesapeake Energy (CHK) is leading the way higher after announcing the sale of shale assets to Southwestern Energy (SWN) for $5.375 billion.
Railroad and semiconductor stocks are also turning in strong performances on the day, helping the markets to recover from their initial sell-off.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 2.2 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped by 1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index edged up by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
In the bond market, treasuries have come under pressure after moving sharply higher over the past few sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 5.3 basis points at 2.143 percent.
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April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.