S&P 500 Moves Higher; Hayward Holdings Shares Jump On Upbeat Results

U.S. stocks traded mixed toward the end of trading, with the S&P 500 gaining around 0.3% on Thursday.

The Dow traded down 0.08% to 38,919.26 while the NASDAQ rose 0.53% to 16,032.35. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.30% to 5,084.84.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares rose by 1.2% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, health care shares fell by 0.6%.

Top Headline

Shares of Hayward Holdings, Inc. HAYW surged over 17% on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

Hayward Holdings posted adjusted earnings of 20 cents per share, beating market estimates of 18 cents per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $278.47 million versus expectations of $271.92 million.

Equities Trading UP

Societal CDMO, Inc. SCTL shares shot up 130% to $1.06. Privately held CoreRx Inc. will acquire Societal CDMO, a contract development and manufacturing organization.

Shares of Enveric Biosciences, Inc. ENVB got a boost, surging 125% to $1.87. Enveric Biosciences signed a non-binding term sheets to pursue the exclusive out-licensing of three classes of compounds.

Vertex, Inc. VERX shares were also up, gaining 32% to $33.63 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and issued strong FY24 guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

LivePerson, Inc. LPSN shares dropped 45% to $1.33 following fourth-quarter financial results.

Shares of Endava plc DAVA were down 39% to $38.90 following second-quarter earnings.

Kineta, Inc. KA was down, falling 46% to $1.2399 as the company announced intention to explore strategic alternatives.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $78.56 while gold traded up 0.6% at $2,054.50.

Silver traded rose 1.1% to $22.895 on Thursday while copper rose 0.1% to $3.8460.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.01%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.07% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.67% The German DAX gained 0.44% French CAC 40 fell 0.34% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.11%.

German jobless rate held came in unchanged at 5.9% in February, while German retail sales fell by 0.4% month-over-month in January. Spanish annual consumer price inflation rate declined to a six-month low level of 2.8% in February.

French economy expanded 0.1% on quarter in the fourth quarter. The annual inflation rate in France eased to 2.9% in February, while producer prices declined 1.3% month-over-month in January.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.11%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 0.15%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 1.94% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex gaining 0.27%.

Indian fiscal deficit shrank to INR 11.03 trillion in April-January compared to INR 11.91 trillion in the year-ago period. Japanese housing starts fell by 7.5% year-over-year in January following a 4.0% decline in the previous month. Retail sales in Japan gained 2.3% year-over-year in January.

Economics

The annual PCE inflation rate eased slightly from 2.6% in December 2023 to 2.4% in January 2024. Excluding energy and food, the core PCE index saw a year-on-year surge of 2.8%, down from the 2.9% rate seen December and in line with the expected decrease to 2.8%.

Personal spending rose by 0.2% from the previous month, while personal income rose by 1%.

U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 13,000 to 215,000 in the week ending Feb. 24.

The Chicago PMI declined to 44 in February from 46 in the previous month.

Pending home sales in the U.S. fell by 4.9% from the prior month in January.

U.S. natural-gas supplies fell 96 billion cubic feet of natural gas in the week ended Feb. 23, 2024.

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