Stocks Regain Ground After Moving Lower At The Open - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks are turning in a lackluster performance in early trading on Thursday after recovering from an initial move to the downside. The major averages have climbed off their lows for the young session and are now lingering near the unchanged line.

Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. While the Dow is up 6.32 points or less than 0.1 percent at 17,144.52, the Nasdaq is down 6.83 points or 0.2 percent at 4,419.14 and the S&P 500 is down 0.68 points or less than 0.1 percent at 1,980.89.

The initial weakness on Wall Street was partly due to concerns about the economic impact of new sanctions against Russia.

Citing Russia's continued attempts to destabilize Ukraine, the U.S. imposed a broad-based package of sanctions on entities in the Russian financial services, energy, and arms or related sectors.

A disappointing report on new residential construction in the U.S. also weighed on the markets, with housing starts falling to a nine-month low.

The Commerce Department said housing starts tumbled 9.3 percent to an annual rate of 893,000 in June from the revised May estimate of 985,000.

The sharp drop came as a surprise to economists, who had expected housing starts to climb to 1.020 million from the 1.001 million originally reported for the previous month. However, the early selling pressure was partly offset by the release of a separate report showing a notable acceleration in the pace of growth in Philadelphia-area manufacturing activity.

The Philadelphia said its diffusion index of current general activity jumped to 23.9 in July from 17.8 in June, with a positive reading indicating growth in regional manufacturing activity. Economists had expected the index to drop to a reading of 16.0.

With the unexpected monthly increase, the Philly Fed index reached its highest level since hitting 34.7 in March of 2011.

Most of the major sectors are currently showing only modest moves, contributing to the lack of direction for the broader markets.

Software and gold stocks are seeing some strength, while weakness remains visible among semiconductor and housing stocks.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in another mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, while Australia's All Ordinaries Index crept up by 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have regained some ground but continue to see moderate weakness. While the German DAX Index is down by 0.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both down by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the modest upward move seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 3.1 basis points at 2.507 percent.