Dow Surges 200 Points; US Initial Jobless Claims Rise

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 200 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.44% to 45,471.56while the NASDAQ rose 0.26% to 21,553.68. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.39% to 6,473.10.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares jumped by 1.6% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, utilities stocks fell by 0.4%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 8,000 from the previous week to 237,000 in the final week of August, compared to market expectations of 230,000.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Zeta Network Group (ZNB) shares shot up 67% to $2.2899 after the company announced it entered into a definitive merger agreement with Aero Velocity.
• Shares of BrilliA Inc (BRIA) got a boost, surging 56% to $3.9990. The intimate apparel solutions provider declared a cash dividend of $0.133 per Class A share, totaling $2,992,500 across 22.5 million outstanding shares. The dividend carries a record date of September 15, with payment scheduled for September 30.
• SMX (Security Matters) (SMX) Public Limited Company shares were also up, gaining 67% to $2.04.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Neonode Inc. (NEON) shares dropped 71% to $6.32 following an announcement of anticipated proceeds from a patent lawsuit settlement.
• Shares of Artelo Biosciences, Inc. (ARTL) were down 51% to $4.31 after the company announced a proposed underwritten public offering of common stock and/or pre-funded warrants.
• 707 Cayman Holdings Limited (JEM) was down, falling 47% to $0.4095 after dipping 66% on Wednesday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8% to $63.48 while gold traded down 0.6% at $3,613.90.

Silver traded down 1.4% to $41.465 on Thursday, while copper fell 1.5% to $4.5630.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.6%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.9%. London's FTSE 100 rose 0.4%, Germany's DAX 40 gained 0.7% and France's CAC 40 fell 0.3% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 1.53%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng falling 1.12%, China's Shanghai Composite declining 1.25% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 0.19%.

Economics

• U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 8,000 from the previous week to 237,000 in the final week of August, compared to market expectations of 230,000.
• U.S. crude oil inventories gained by 2.415 million barrels to 420.7mllion barrels in the final week of August, versus market expectations of 1.8 million barrels.
• The ISM services PMI climbed to 52 in August from 50.1 in July, compared to market estimates of 51.
• The S&P Global US composite PMI was revised lower to 54.6 in August versus a preliminary reading of 55.4.
• Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 3.3% in the second quarter.
• The US trade gap rose to $78.3 billion in July from a revised $59.1 billion gap in the previous month.

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