U.S. Stocks Show Strong Move Back To The Upside After Yesterday’s Sell-Off

Following the sell-off seen in the previous session, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Thursday. The major averages fluctuated early in the session but climbed firmly into positive territory as the day progressed.

The major averages finished the session near their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 369.54 points or 1.0 percent to 38,519.84, the Nasdaq surged 197.63 points or 1.3 percent to 15,361.64 and the S&P 500 shot up 60.54 points or 1.3 percent to 4,906.19.

The rebound on Wall Street came as some traders saw 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 Wednesday’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 37.5 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 have contributed 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 December, while the unemployment rate…