Major Averages Climb Into Positive Territory In Early Trading

(RTTNews) - After initially showing a lack of direction, stocks have moved mostly higher over the course of early trading on Thursday. The major averages have climbed into positive territory, although buying interest has remained somewhat subdued.

The early strength that has emerged on Wall Street comes on the heels of the notable downturn seen over the course of the previous session, reflecting continued volatility.

Traders are also digesting the latest batch of U.S. economic data, including the Labor Department's report on initial jobless claims in the week ended September 6th.

The report showed that jobless claims fell in line with economist estimates, dropping to 275,000 from the previous week's revised level of 281,000.

Trucking stocks have shown a strong move to the upside in early trading, driving the Dow Jones Trucking Index up by 3.6 percent.

Con-Way (CNW) is leading the trucking sector higher, jumping by 33.6 percent after agreeing to be acquired by XPO Logistics (XPO) for $3 billion, including the assumption of debt.

Significant strength has also emerged among gold stocks, which are moving higher along with the price of the precious metal. Gold for December delivery is climbing $7.90 to $1,109.90 an ounce.

Telecom, commercial real estate and computer hardware stocks are also seeing early strength, while most of the other major sectors are showing more modest moves.

Currently, the major averages are just off their highs for the young session. The Dow is up 75.66 points or 0.5 percent at 16,329.23, the Nasdaq is up 37.17 points or 0.8 percent at 4,793.70 and the S&P 500 is up 9.64 points or 0.5 percent at 1,951.68.