U.S. Stocks Turn Mixed After Early Move To The Upside

(RTTNews) - After moving to the upside early in the session, stocks have given back some ground over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages have pulled back well off their highs of the session, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq sliding into negative territory.

Currently, the major averages are narrowly mixed. While the Nasdaq is down 36.68 points or 0.2 percent at 22,348.02, the S&P 500 is up 8.28 points or 0.1 percent at 6,613.00 and the Dow is up 146.69 points or 0.3 percent at 46,094.01.

The early strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to a closely watched Commerce Department report showing consumer prices increased in line with economist estimates in the month of August.

The Commerce Department said its personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index climbed by 0.3 percent in August after rising by 0.2 percent in July. The price growth matched expectations.

The annual rate of growth by the PCE price index ticked up to 2.7 percent in August from 2.6 percent in July, which was also in line with estimates.

Excluding food and energy prices, the core PCE price index rose by 0.2 percent in August, matching a revised increase in July as well as expectations.

The annual rate of growth by the core PCE price index came in at 2.9 percent in August, unchanged from July and in line with estimates.

The data has helped increase confidence the Federal Reserve will continue lowering interest rates in the coming months.

Buying interest has waned over the course of the session, however, as traders continue to express some uncertainty about the outlook for the artificial intelligence trade.

AI players Oracle (ORCL) and Nvidia (NVDA) have shown notable moves to the downside, contributing to the pullback by the Nasdaq.

Traders also reacting to the latest tariff news, with President Donald Trump announcing in a post on Truth Social that he will be imposing a 100 tariff on pharmaceuticals unless the company is building a manufacturing plant in the U.S.

Trump also announced a 25 percent tariff on heavy trucks and a 50 percent tariff on kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and associated products, with the new tariffs set to take effect October 1st.

Sector News

Energy stocks are turning in a strong performance amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index and the NYSE Arca Oil Index jumping by 1.9 percent an 1.7 percent, respectively.

Significant strength is also visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.5 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. Gold stocks are moving higher along with the price of the precious metal.

On the other hand, computer hardware stocks have shown a notable move to the downside, dragging the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down by 1.4 percent.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 0.9 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slid by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.8 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index are both up by 0.7 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are seeing modest strength in reaction to the inflation data. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.6 basis points at 4.156 percent.