U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 200 points on Thursday.
Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.73% to 53,446.86 while the NASDAQ gained 0.81% to 26,429.00. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.61% to 7,713.26.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Communications services shares jumped by 2% on Thursday.
In trading on Thursday, energy stocks fell by 0.2%.
Top Headline
U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 206,000 during the fourth week of August, compared to market estimates of 205,000.
Equities Trading UP
Equities Trading DOWN
Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ: RARE ) shares dropped 47% to $14.08 fter reporting late-stage clinical trial failures for its Angelman syndrome therapy, apazunersen, prompting the biopharmaceutical firm to review the program’s future and plan significant corporate expense reductions. Shares of Gix Internet Ltd (NASDAQ: GIXI ) were down 36% to $7.73 after jumping 41% on Wednesday. Medicus Pharma Ltd. (NASDAQ: MDCX ) was down, falling 30% to $0.1809 after the company announced co-development and license agreement with Pfizer for CD228-targeting ADC PF-08046031.Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.8% to $91.70 while gold traded up 2.9% at $4,541.20.
Silver traded up 2.7% to $67.19 on Thursday, while copper rose 1.1% to $6.6645.
Euro zone
European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.4%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.7%, London’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.7%, Germany’s DAX gained 0.3%, while France’s CAC 40 fell 0.2%.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.17%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declining 0.39%, China’s Shanghai Composite gaining 0.02% and India’s BSE Sensex falling 0.55%.
Economics
U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 206,000 during the fourth week of August, compared to market estimates of 205,000. The U.S. trade deficit rose to $88.6 billion in July from a $71.1 billion gap in June and compared to market estimates of a $90 billion deficit. U.S. nonfarm business-sector labor productivity increased 1.4% in the second quarter, compared to a 0.8% gain in the first quarter. Unit labor costs rose 1.2% in the second quarter of, versus a 1.3% increase in the previous quarter.Photo via Shutterstock
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