(RTTNews) - Stocks have shown a lack of direction in early trading on Wednesday, with the major averages lingering near the unchanged line. The choppy trading comes as many traders are away from their desks ahead of the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

The lackluster performance comes despite the release of some upbeat economic data, including a report from the Labor Department showing that weekly jobless claims fell below the 500,000 level for the first time since early January.

The report showed that personal income increased by 0.2 percent in October following a revised 0.2 percent increase in September. Economists had been expecting income to edge up by 0.1 percent compared to the lack of growth originally reported for the previous month.

On the other hand, the Commerce Department also released a report showing that durable goods orders unexpectedly decreased in the month of October, although the report also showed a notable upward revision to pace of order growth in September.

Despite the lack of direction being shown by the broader markets, early strength has emerged among gold stocks, which are moving higher along with the price of the precious metal. Most of the other major sectors are showing only modest moves.

The major averages are currently posting modest gains, just above the unchanged line. The Dow is currently up 1.06 at 10,434.77, the Nasdaq is up 4.34 at 2,173.52 and the S&P 500 is up 0.50 at 1,106.15.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

Copyright(c) 2009 RTTNews.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Posted in Categories: Economy, Releases, USA.

Subscribe by RSS Subscribe by Email