US Mid-Morning Recap by TradeTheNews Staff - Indices opened substantially higher, helped by short covering in many of the groups that have been leading the markets lower over the last 5 sessions. Financial stocks have seen some interest from investors looking to take advantage of the recent weakness. XLF +1% XBD +1.5% C +1.3% BAC +1.2% GS +2.5% Even many of the mortgage related names are seeing a little demand. CFC +2% LEND +7% NEW +29% NDE +3% Cyclicals are advancing, like material and mining stocks, while some of the more defensive large-cap consumer related names underperform. PG â0.3% CL â0.2% MCD â1% A softer than expected pending home sales reading did put some pressure on treasury yields sending the 10-year yield back towards the 4.50% level and for the time being keeping a lid equity gains. Treasury futures had spent much of the morning in negative territory after unit labor costs were reported well ahead of expectations. April crude futures have slipped into negative territory holding close to the $60 level. Gold has moved to session lows in tandem, but the April contract is still up $4 at $643.20. The Dollar is rebounding against the Yen after trading as high as 116.65 this morning. The Yen is losing ground across the board.