Crude Oil Gains Over 1%; US Weekly Jobless Claims Increase

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 100 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.63% to 42,230.78 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.81% to 17,894.89. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.61% to 5,710.13.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares rose by 1.4% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares fell by 0.1%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 2,000 to 223,000 during the second week of March, compared to market estimates of 224,000.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• ProAssurance Corporation (PRA) shares shot up 48% to $22.99 after the company announced it will be acquired by The Doctors Company for $25.00 per share in cash.
• Shares of Windtree Therapeutics, Inc. (WINT) got a boost, surging 71% to $2.8950 after the company entered a license and supply agreement to become a sourcing partner for Evofem Biosciences for Evofem’s PHEXXI.
• OptiNose, Inc. (OPTN) shares were also up, gaining 55% to $9.28 after Paratek Pharmaceuticals announced it will acquire the company in a deal worth $330 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Elevation Oncology, Inc. (ELEV) shares dropped 41% to $0.2798 after the company announced the discontinued development of EO-3021.
• Shares of Benson Hill, Inc. (BHIL) were down 42% to $0.3755 after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (AKBA) was down, falling 30% to $1.9950 after the company announced the pricing of a $50 million offering of 25 million common shares at $2/share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.3% to $68.00 while gold traded up 0.1% at $3,044.60.

Silver traded down 0.6% to $34.015 on Thursday, while copper fell 0.1% to $5.0930.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.47%, Germany's DAX 40 fell 1.43% and France's CAC 40 fell 0.86%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.97%, while London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.15%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.51%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipped 2.23% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 1.19%.

Economics

• U.S. existing home sales increased by 4.2% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 4.26 million homes in February.
• The U.S. current account deficit shrank by 2.0% to $303.9 billion in the fourth quarter, versus a revised deficit of $310.3 billion in the third quarter.
• U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 2,000 to 223,000 during the second week of March, compared to market estimates of 224,000.
• The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index fell to 12.5 in March from 18.1 in the previous month, versus market estimates of 8.5.
• U.S. natural gas stocks increased 9 billion cubic feet in the week ending March 14, compared to market estimates of a 3 billion cubic feet gain.

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