us stocks traded mixed at the noon hour on thursday with the sp 500 and nasdaq composite headed for backtoback gains following a batch of strong economic data as investors waited to hear from federal reserve chairman jerome powell on wednesday the dow jones industrial average rose 60 points or 018 to 32969 the sp 500 increased 12 points or 029 to 4141 and the nasdaq composite gained 50 points or 041 to 12432 the sp 500 is up 129 from its midjune low but remains down 131 for the year to date us stocks were mostly higher on thursday following revised readings on the performance of the us and german economies during the second quarter along with news of more fiscal stimulus measures out of china however low trading volume was contributing to exaggerated swings intraday a revised reading on secondquarter gross domestic product showed germanys economy grew by 01 in the second quarter which was better than economists had expected meanwhile in the us the first revision of secondquarter gdp figures showed the economy shrank by just 06 better than the 09 contraction from the original reading seegdp shrank at 06 annual pace in second quarter but it wasnt all bad news eric diton president and managing director at the wealth alliance said us stocks had good reason to celebrate the latest reading on secondquarter gdp the underlying data is not showing a recession and thats pretty ideal for this market because this market is praying for a soft landing diton said stocks are also contending with low trading volume which helped to exaggerate swings in the market wednesdays session saw just 88 billion shares traded across the various wall street exchanges that was the lowest volume so far this year and a decline of 26 compared with the daily average for 2022 according to dow jones data market strategists blamed the low trading volume on seasonal factors as well as the reluctance among some investors to make bold bets before powell speaks on friday at the kansas city feds annual economic symposium in jackson hole wyo investors will dissect powells comments for clues about the direction of fed policy an issue that has greatly determined market trajectory of late the market got another taste of fed speak on thursday when philadelphia fed president patrick harker said he would like to see the fed hike its benchmark rate target north of 34 then let it sit for a while in other economic news the number of americans who applied for unemployment benefits last week fell to a onemonth low of 243000 indicating layoffs remain near record lows see jobless claims fall to onemonth low of 243000 with no sign of surging layoffs investors were also contending with a decidedly mixed bag of earnings reports from a handful of tech companies released after wednesdays closing bell shares in salesforcecrm were down nearly 7 while snowflake snow  on the other hand was up more than 16 after its numbers and forecasts were wellreceived meanwhile tesla inctsla shares traded marginally lower erasing their gains from the premarket session as a stock split took effect at the open the ev makers board approved the 3for1 split on aug 5 how are other assets faring learn how to incorporate esg into your investment portfolio join jennifer grancio ceo of engine no 1 at the best new ideas in money festival on sept 21 and sept 22 in new york