Dow Falls 250 Points; US Initial Jobless Claims Rise

BY Benzinga | ECONOMIC | 09:47 AM EDT

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 0.56% to 46,171.31 while the NASDAQ fell 1.15% to 21,677.52. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.82% to 6,537.54.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed by 0.6% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, communication services stocks fell by 1.6%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 5,000 from the previous month to 210,000 during the third week of March, in-line with the median market estimates.

Equities Trading UP
           

  • Kodiak Sciences Inc (KOD) shares shot up 63% to $36.99 after the company announced topline results in the GLOW2 Phase 3 superiority study of Zenkuda for the treatment of patients with diabetic retinopathy.
  • Shares of Navan Inc (NAVN) got a boost, surging 24% to $11.39 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and issued first-quarter sales guidance above estimates.
  • Nextdecade Corp (NEXT) shares were also up, gaining 9% to $8.00.

Equities Trading DOWN

  • Pony AI Inc (PONY) – ADR ADR shares dropped 12% to $10.04 after the company delivered a split fourth quarter, with explosive growth in its robotaxi business overshadowed by an overall revenue decline and weakening margins.
  • Shares of Applovin Corp (APP) were down 9% to $397.07.
  • Vicor Corp (VICR) was down, falling 7% to $173.76.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 3.9% to $93.88 while gold traded down 2.6% at $4,436.00.

Silver traded down 5.8% to $68.415 on Thursday, while copper fell 0.9% to $5.5085.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 1.2%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 1.3%. London's FTSE 100 declined 1.3%, Germany's DAX dipped 1.6% and France's CAC 40 fell 1% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.27%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declining 1.89% and China's Shanghai Composite dropping 1.09%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 5,000 from the previous month to 210,000 during the third week of March, in-line with the median market estimates.

Photo via Shutterstock

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