With traders shrugging off disappointing jobs data, stocks have moved mostly higher over the course of morning trading on Thursday. The major averages have all climbed firmly into positive territory, bouncing off the two-month closing lows seen in the previous session.
The strength on Wall Street comes as traders feel that the unexpected uptick in weekly jobless claims reported by the Labor Department has already been priced into the markets. A report showing an unexpected drop in the U.S. trade deficit has also generated some positive sentiment.
Health insurance stocks are helping to lead the way higher on the day, resulting in a 2.4 percent gain by the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index. Cigna (CI), Humana (HUM), and UnitedHealth (UNH) are turning in some of the sector's best performances.
Banking, healthcare provider, and railroad stocks have also shown notable moves to the upside, partly offset their recent losses. The strength among banking stocks is reflected by the 1.1 percent gain being posted by the KBW Bank Index, which is bouncing off a six-month closing low.
The major averages have pulled back off their highs in the past few minutes but are holding onto strong gains. The Dow is up 95.51 points or 0.8 percent at 12,144.45, the Nasdaq is up 10.42 points or 0.4 percent at 2,685.80 and the S&P 500 is up 10.06 points or 0.8 percent at 1,289.62.
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