FX.co ★ Major Averages Continue To Turn In Mixed Performance In Afternoon Trading

The major stock indices in the U.S. showed a mixed performance in Wednesday's afternoon trading session. While the tech-centric Nasdaq was trending negatively and the Dow Jones swung between gains and losses, the S&P 500 repeatedly danced around the baseline.

At one point in the session, the Dow climbed by 126.74 points or 0.3% to 39,132.23. Simultaneously, the S&P 500 was slightly up by 0.80 points or under a tenth of a percent at 5,176.07. In contrast, the Nasdaq fell by 47.06 points or 0.3% to 16,218.58. The Nasdaq's setback partly stemmed from weakness in the tech sector, with tech magnate Nvidia (NVDA) falling by 1.8%.

The overall trading activity was relatively quiet, as traders awaited significant forthcoming economic reports.

On Thursday, eyes will focus on the Labor Department's February report on producer price inflation, a factor in determining interest rates. Analysts are predicting an increase of 0.3%— the same as January's figure— and expect annual producer price growth to speed up to 1.1% from 0 .9%. Traders are also anticipating reports on weekly jobless claims and retail sales. After a January dip, retail sales are predicted to have recovered in February.

On Friday, market activity might be influenced by figures on import and export prices, industrial production, and consumer sentiment. Particularly, the preliminary report on consumer sentiment in March by the University of Michigan may garner attention due to its inflation expectations reading.

Speaking of sector news, most major sectors did not show significant movements, resulting in muted market performance. Energy stocks, however, gained a significant advantage owing to a spike in crude oil prices. An uptick in the price of gold was also beneficial for gold stocks.

However, semiconductor stocks took a hit, bringing the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 2.2%.

Meanwhile, in global markets, Asia-Pacific region's stocks ended the day mixed. China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped by 0.4% and Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 0.3%, while South Korea's Kospi increased by 0.4%.

European stocks mostly trended upwards - France's CAC 40 Index progressed by 0.6% and the UK's FTSE 100 Index grew by 0.3%. However, Germany's DAX Index closed just marginally lower.

In the bond market, treasuries continued their pullback observed in the last two sessions. Consequently, the yield on the ten-year note was up by 3.1 basis points at 4.186 percent, as it moves inversely to its price.