The major U.S. stock indexes have moved in starkly opposite directions during trading on Thursday. While the Dow has moved notably higher, reaching its highest levels in well over a year, the tech-heavy Nasdaq has slid firmly into negative territory.<\/p>\n
Currently, the Dow is just off its highs of the session, up 272.58 points or 0.8 percent at 35,703.00. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq is down 75.62 points or 0.5 percent at 14,182.87 and the S&P 500 is down 2.82 points or 0.1 percent at 4,547.76.<\/p>\n
The advance by the Dow is due in large part to a surge by shares of Salesforce (CRM), with the cloud software company spiking by 6.6 percent.<\/p>\n
Salesforce is moving higher after the company reported better than expected fiscal third quarter earnings and provided upbeat guidance.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the decrease by the Nasdaq comes amid a rebound by treasury yields, as the yield on the benchmark ten-year note is bouncing off its lowest levels in over two months.<\/p>\n
The increase in treasury yields comes even though the Commerce Department released a report showing consumer price growth in the U.S. slowed in line with economist estimates in the month of October.<\/p>\n
The report said the annual rate of consumer price growth decelerated to 3.0 percent in October from 3.4 percent in September. The slowdown matched expectations.<\/p>\n
Core consumer price growth also slowed in line with estimates, slipping to 3.5 percent in October from 3.7 percent in September. Core consumer prices exclude food and energy prices.<\/p>\n
The inflation readings, which are said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve, were included in the Commerce Department’s report on personal income and spending during the month.<\/p>\n
Sector News<\/p>\n
Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, although energy stocks are seeing considerable strength amid an increase by the price of crude oil.<\/p>\n
With crude for January delivery climbing $0.87 to $78.73 a barrel, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index is up by 2.0 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index is up by 1.4 percent.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, airline stocks have shown a significant move to the downside, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 1.3 percent.<\/p>\n
Notable weakness has also emerged among semiconductors and computer hardware stocks, contributing to the drop by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.<\/p>\n
Other Markets<\/p>\n