Major Averages Hovering In Positive Territory In Mid-Day Trading

(RTTNews) - After initially showing a lack of direction, stocks have moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The strength that has emerged on the day has largely offset the weakness that was seen in the previous session.

Tech giant Apple (AAPL) is helping to lead the way higher on Wall Street, with the iPod and iPhone maker surging up by nearly 8 percent after reporting better than expected second quarter results.

Apple also increased its stock repurchase authorization by $30 billion, raised its dividend by 8 percent and announced a 7-for-1 stock split.

After ending the previous session notably lower, housing stocks have shown a strong move back to the upside on the day. The Philadelphia Housing Sector Index has surged up by 1.8 percent, more than offsetting yesterday's 1.1 percent loss.

D.R. Horton (DHI) has helped to lead the housing sector higher, with the homebuilder jumping by 7.8 percent after reporting better than expected second quarter results.

Significant strength has also emerged among natural gas stock, as reflected by the 1.1 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index. The gain extends a recent upward trend by the index, which has reached a record intraday high.

Meanwhile, substantial weakness remains visible among telecom stocks, with the NYSE Arca Telecom Index down by 2.4 percent. Verizon (VZ) is posting a notable loss after reporting first quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates.

Electronic storage and oil service stocks are also under pressure on the day, partly offsetting the strength in the aforementioned sectors.

The major averages have moved roughly sideways in recent trading, hovering in positive territory. The Dow is up 21.61 points or 0.1 percent at 16,523.26, the Nasdaq is up 27.37 points or 0.7 percent at 4,154.34 and the S&P 500 is up 6.62 points or 0.4 percent at 1,882.01.