U.S. Stocks Seeing Significant Volatility Amid Focus On Treasury Yields

(RTTNews) - Stocks have seen considerable volatility over the course of morning trading on Friday, with the major averages showing wild swings following the notable downturn seen in the previous session.

Currently, the major averages are all in positive territory but off their highs of the session. The Dow is up 242.97 points or 0.8 percent at 30,576.56, the Nasdaq is up 11.94 points or 0.1 percent at 10,626.79 and the S&P 500 is up 19.21 points or 0.5 percent at 3,684.99.

The volatility on Wall Street comes as traders keep a close eye on activity in the bond market amid a recent surge in treasury yields.

The yield on the benchmark ten-year note reached a fifteen-year intraday high earlier in the session but has given back ground since, contributing to the advance by stocks.

Treasury yields have moved sharply higher in recent sessions amid ongoing concerns about the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes.

The choppy trading may also reflect below average volume, as some traders stick to the sidelines amid a lack of major U.S. economic data.

Next week, traders are likely to keep a close eye on a report on personal income and spending, which includes a reading on inflation said to be preferred by the Fed.

Among individual stocks, shares of Snap Inc. (SNAP) are moving sharply lower after the Snapchat parent reported mixed third quarter results and forecast flat revenue for the current quarter.

Hospital operator Tenet Healthcare (THC) is also posting a steep loss after reporting better than expected third quarter results but providing disappointing guidance.

Shares of American Express (AXP) and Verizon (VZ) have also moved to the downside despite reporting third quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates.

While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, oil service stocks have moved sharply higher, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 2.7 percent. With the surge, the index has reached a four-month intraday high.

The rally by oil service stocks comes amid a modest increase by the price of crude oil, with crude for December delivery inching up $0.18 to $84.69 a barrel.

Significant strength is also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. The index has reached its best intraday level in over a month.

Gold, computer hardware and networking stocks are also seeing considerable strength on the day, while commercial real estate and natural gas stocks have moved to the downside.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index both fell by 0.4 percent, although China's Shanghai Composite Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have turned mixed on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index is down by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 1.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have climbed off their worst levels of the day but remain in negative territory. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.7 basis points at 4.253 percent.