Dow Falls 50 Points; Kroger Posts Downbeat Sales

U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Dow Jones index falling around 50 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded down 0.12% to 44,958.81 while the NASDAQ rose 0.04% to 19,742.79. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.04% to 6,084.03.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 0.8% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, materials shares fell by 0.8%.

Top Headline

Kroger Company KR reported weaker-than-expected sales for the third quarter on Thursday.

The company reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 98 cents, in-line with the street view. Quarterly sales of $33.634 billion (down 0.9% year-on-year) missed the analyst consensus estimate of $34.204 billion. Identical Sales ex-fuel increased by 2.3%.

Kroger has narrowed its FY2024 adjusted EPS guidance from $4.30-$4.50 to $4.35-$4.45, compared to the $4.44 estimate. The company also expects identical sales growth, excluding fuel, to be between 1.20% and 1.50%

Equities Trading UP

Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. RKDA shares shot up 138% to $6.69 after the company announced an all-stock merger with Roosevelt Resources where Roosevelt will receive a 90% equity stake.
Shares of Protara Therapeutics, Inc. TARA got a boost, surging 147% to $8.74 after the company announced results from its ongoing Phase 2 TARA-002 trial in patients with NMIBC.
PainReform Ltd. PRFX shares were also up, gaining 95% to $5.22 after the company announced changes in management including new CFO and CEO appointees.

Equities Trading DOWN

Algorhythm Holdings, Inc. RIME shares dropped 44% to $0.0950 after the company announced the pricing of its $9.5 million public offering of 55.88 million shares with accompanying Series A and B Warrants.
Shares of Santech Holdings Limited STEC were down 32% to $0.67. Santech Holdings announced 180-day extension to regain compliance with Nasdaq Minimum Bid Requirement.
SRM Entertainment, Inc. SRM was down, falling 29% to $0.8201. SRM Entertainment priced its $1.7 million registered direct offering of common shares at $0.78385/share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $68.93 while gold traded down 0.2% at $2,669.70.

Silver traded down 0.3% to $31.830 on Thursday, while copper fell 0.1% to $4.1990.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.1%, Germany's DAX climbed 0.3% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.2%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 1.3%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.1%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.30%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.92%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.12% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 1%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims increased to 224,000 in the week ending Nov. 30, compared to 213,000 in the previous week, and higher than market estimates of 215,000.
U.S. trade deficit shrank to $73.8 billion in October versus a revised $83.8 billion gap in the previous month and compared to market estimates of a $75 billion gap.
U.S. employers announced 57,727 job cuts for the month of November compared to 55,597 in October.

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