Dow Falls Over 250 Points; US Initial Jobless Claims Decline

U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Dow Jones index falling more than 250 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.54% to 49,394.62 while the NASDAQ fell 0.59% to 22,619.58. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.43% to 6,851.73.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares gained by 1.5% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary stocks fell by 1%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 23,000 to 206,000 during the second week of February, compared to market estimates of 225,000.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Knorex Ltd (KNRX) shares shot up 61% to $1.44.
• Shares of Rubico Inc (RUBI) got a boost, surging 56% to $3.49.
• C3is Inc (CISS) shares were also up, gaining 37% to $2.28 after the company posted fourth-quarter results.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Moleculin Biotech Inc (MBRX) shares dropped 38% to $2.97. Moleculin announced exercise of warrants for $8.3 million gross proceeds.
• Shares of Alight Inc (ALIT) were down 37% to $0.82 after the company reported worse-than-expected quarterly financial results.
• Davis Commodities Ltd (DTCK) was down, falling 25% to $0.14.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.1% to $66.55 while gold traded up 0.1% at $5,012.00.

Silver traded up 0.6% to $78.04 on Thursday, while copper fell 1.7% to $5.7120.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.7%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 1.2%. London's FTSE 100 fell 0.7%, Germany's DAX fell 1.1% and France's CAC 40 fell 0.9% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei gaining 0.57% and India's BSE Sensex falling 1.48%.

Economics

• The U.S. trade deficit increased to $70.3 billion in December from $53 billion in the previous month, compared to market estimates of a $55.5 billion gap.
• The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index jumped to 16.3 in February, recording the highest level since September and topping market estimates of 8.5.
• U.S. wholesale inventories increased by 0.2% month-over-month to $917.2 billion in December, matching November’s level.
• U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 23,000 to 206,000 during the second week of February, compared to market estimates of 225,000.

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