U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 100 points on Thursday.
The Dow traded up 0.98% to 30,720.61 while the NASDAQ rose 1.29% to 10,818.79. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.78% to 3,723.90.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Communication services shares climbed 2.2% on Thursday. Leading the sector was strength from Zhihu Inc. (NASDAQ:ZH) and Skillz Inc. (NYSE:SKLZ).
In trading on Thursday, utilities shares dipped 1.5%.
Top Headline
US initial jobless claims declined by 12,000 to 214,000 in the week ending October 15th, compared to market estimates of 230,000.
Equities Trading UP
- Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI) shares shot up 14% to $63.28 after the company raised Q1 net sales guidance and adjusted EPS guidance above estimates.
- Shares of NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:NGM) got a boost, shooting 28% to $4.71. NGM Biopharmaceuticals Director David Goeddel V bought a total of 130,000 shares at an average price of $3.56.
- Telos Corporation (NASDAQ:TLS) shares were also up, gaining 18% to $9.87. Needham maintained Telos with a Buy and raised the price target from $10 to $13.
Equities Trading DOWN
- Talaris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TALS) shares tumbled 44% to $1.3601 after the company announced it received a report of a patient death, which triggered a pre-specified, temporary stopping requirement and review by the FREEDOM-1 Data Monitoring Committee.
- Shares of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) were down 14% to $5.51 after the company reported mixed Q3 earnings results.
- Amprius Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMPX) was down, falling 14% to $9.51. Amprius Technologies recently announced it was awarded a $50 million cost-sharing grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 1.5% to $86.85, while gold traded up 0.7% at $1,646.00.
Silver traded up 2.8% to $18.865 on Thursday while copper rose 3.1% to $3.42.
Euro zone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.29%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.32% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.84%. The German DAX gained 0.18%, French CAC 40 rose 0.73% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.04%.
The Eurozone recorded a current account deficit of EUR 20.21 billion in August versus a year-ago surplus of EUR 21.05 billion. Producer prices in Germany rose by 2.3% from a month ago in September, versus a 7.9% increase in the prior month, while annual producer inflation in the country stood at 45.8% in September.
The manufacturing climate indicator in France climbed to 103 in October from a 1-1/2-year low level of 102 in the previous month. Construction output in Italy surged 9.7% year-over-year in August versus a revised 7% increase in the prior month.
Economics
- US initial jobless claims declined by 12,000 to 214,000 in the week ending October 15th, compared to market estimates of 230,000.
- The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index rose 1 point to a reading of negative at -8.7 in October.
- Existing home sales in the US declined 1.5% to an annual rate of 4.71 million in September.
- The index of leading economic indicators declined 0.4% for September.
- US natural-gas stocks increased 111 billion cubic feet during the week ended October 14th, versus market expectations of a 105 bcf gain, the Energy Information Administration said.
- Federal Reserve Governor Philip Jefferson will speak at 1:30 p.m. ET.
- Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is set to speak at 1:45 p.m. ET.
- Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman will speak at 2:05 p.m. ET.
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COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 98,987,010 cases with around 1,092,030 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,636,510 cases and 528,940 deaths, while France reported over 36,418,720 COVID-19 cases with 156,180 deaths. In total, there were at least 631,630,250 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,577,340 deaths.
