U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 150 points on Thursday.
The Dow traded up 0.38% to 46,312.60 while the NASDAQ gained 0.40% to 22,655.24. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.33% to 6,664.29.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Consumer staples shares jumped by 1.2% on Thursday.
In trading on Thursday, industrials stocks fell by 0.4%.
Top Headline
Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Thursday.
The company reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 62 cents, beating the Street view of 60 cents. Quarterly sales of $179.50 billion (+5.8% year over year) outpaced the analyst consensus estimate of $177.429 billion.
Walmart raised its 2026 adjusted EPS outlook to $2.58–$2.63, up from its earlier range of $2.52–$2.62. The updated midpoint comes in above the $2.61 analyst consensus. Walmart lifted its fiscal 2026 constant-currency revenue growth outlook to 4.8%–5.1%, up from its prior range of 3.75%–4.75%.
Equities Trading UP
- Cerence Inc (NASDAQ:CRNC) shares shot up 38% to $10.89 after the company announced better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results. Also, Goldman Sachs maintained a Neutral rating on the stock and raised its price target from $10 to $11.
- Shares of PACS Group Inc (NYSE:PACS) got a boost, surging 52% to $25.64 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly sales results.
- Magnera Corp (NYSE:MAGN) shares were also up, gaining 35% to $10.77 after the company reported fourth-quarter financial results.
Equities Trading DOWN
- Bath & Body Works Inc (NYSE:BBWI) shares dropped 24% to $15.96 after the company reported worse-than-expected third-quarter financial results and issued FY25 EPS guidance below estimates.
- Shares of Canadian Solar Inc (NASDAQ:CSIQ) were down 15% to $22.40 after Mizuho downgraded the stock from Outperform to Underperform but raised its price target from $15 to $21.
- Meihua International Medical Tech Co Ltd (NASDAQ:MHUA) was down, falling 27% to $0.17 after the company announced a 1-for-100 reverse stock split.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $59.46 while gold traded down 0.4% at $4,067.30.
Silver traded down 0.7% to $50.495 on Thursday, while copper fell 0.5% to $4.9945.
Euro zone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.51%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.76%. London's FTSE 100 rose 0.40%, Germany's DAX 40 gained 0.64% and France's CAC 40 jumped 0.47% during the session.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 2.65%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gaining 0.02%, China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.40% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 0.52%.
Economics
- Non-farm payrolls jumped by 119,000 in September, beating market estimates of 50,000, according to the official labor report released Thursday after a six-week delay due to the government shutdown.
- The unemployment rate edged up from 4.3% to 4.4%—marking the highest level since October 2021.
- U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 8,000 from the previous week to 220,000 in the week ending Nov. 15.
- The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index increased 11 points to -1.7 in November, compared to market estimates of -3.1.
- The Kansas City Fed's Manufacturing Production Index rose to 18 in November from 15 in October.
- U.S. existing home sales surged by 1.2% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 4.10 million in October.
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