U.S. Stocks Bounce Back More Firmly Into Positive Territory

Stocks gave back ground after an early advance but have once again moved back to the upside over the course of the trading session on Thursday. The major averages have climbed more firmly into positive territory, partly offsetting the steep losses posted in the previous session.

After briefly turning negative earlier in the session, the Dow is currently up 240.15 points or 0.6 percent at 38,390.45. The Nasdaq is also up 141.31 points or 0.9 percent at 15,305.32, while the S&P 500 is up 39.92 points or 0.8 percent at 4,885.57.

The strength on Wall Street comes as some traders see the sell-off on Wednesday as a buying opportunity amid optimism the markets will resume the upward trend seen throughout much of January.

While the Federal Reserve’s signals that an interest rate cut in March is unlikely contributed to yesterday’s nosedive, economists continue to believe it is a matter of “when, not if” the central bank will eventually lower rates.

CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a relatively modest 38.0 percent chance of a March rate cut but a nearly 100 percent chance rates will be lower by early May.

A continued decrease by treasury yields may also be contributing to the buying interest, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note falling to its lowest levels in over a month.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly saw a modest increase in the week ended January 27th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose to 224,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 215,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 212,000 from the 214,000 originally reported for the previous week.

On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on employment in the month of January.

Economists currently expect employment to increase by 180,000 jobs in January after jumping by 216,000 jobs in…