Stocks have moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday, regaining ground after moving sharply lower over the two previous sessions. The major averages have all moved to the upside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the advance.
The major averages have moved roughly sideways in recent trading, hovering in positive territory. While the Nasdaq is up 166.54 points or 1.5 percent at 11,018.81, the S&P 500 is up 34.65 points or 0.9 percent at 3,933.50 and the narrower Dow is up 105.47 points or 0.3 percent at 33,150.03.
The rebound on Wall Street comes as traders look to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following recent weakness, which reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates.
Tech stocks have helped lead the way higher amid a positive reaction to quarterly results from streaming giant Netflix (NFLX).
Shares of Netflix are surging by 6.5 percent after the company reported fourth quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates but stronger than expected subscriber growth.
Netflix also announced Reed Hastings is stepping down as co-CEO, with COO Greg Peters assuming the post of co-CEO alongside Ted Sarandos.
Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) is also seeing significant strength after announcing plans to cut about 12,000 jobs or 6 percent of its workforce.
In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a continued decline in U.S. existing home sales in the month of December, although the decrease was much smaller than economists had expected, RTTNews cited.
NAR said existing home sales slumped by 1.5 percent to an annual rate of 4.02 million in December after plunging by 7.9 percent to a revised rate of 4.08 million in November.
Economists had expected existing home sales to tumble by 3.4 percent to an annual rate of 3.95 million from the 4.09 million originally reported for the previous month.
Sector News
Software stocks are turning in some of the market’s best performances on the day, resulting in a 2.7 percent spike by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index.
Substantial strength also remains visible among banking stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent surge by the KBW Bank Index.
Semiconductor stocks have also shown a significant move to the upside, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 1.4 percent.
Retail, airline and chemical stocks are also seeing notable strength in afternoon trading, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
