US Stocks Higher, Micron Reports Downbeat Sales

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 200 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.47% to 42,525.10 while the NASDAQ rose 0.84% to 19,554.71. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.62% to 5,908.52.

Check This Out: Top 3 Consumer Stocks You May Want To Dump This Quarter

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares rose by 1.1% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, health care shares fell by 0.7%.

Top Headline

Micron Technology Inc. MU posted better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed expectations.

The company said it sees second-quarter revenue of $7.9 billion, plus or minus $200 million, versus estimates of $9 billion. The company expects second-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.43 per share, plus or minus 10 cents per share, versus estimates of $1.92 per share.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• PainReform Ltd. PRFX shares shot up 532% to $13.85.
• Shares of Trio Petroleum Corp. TPETgot a boost, surging 358% to $3.7550 after the company announced it will acquire the oil and gas assets in a heavy oil region of Saskatchewan, Canada for approximately $1.4 million.
• Bio-Path Holdings, Inc. BPTH shares were also up, gaining 281% to $2.55 after the company announced preclinical testing of BP1001-A as a potential treatment for obesity in Type 2 diabetes patients by enhancing insulin sensitivity.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Snow Lake Resources Ltd. LITM shares dropped 61% to $0.3185 as the company reported the pricing of public offering.
• Shares of Aethlon Medical, Inc. AEMD were down 38% to $0.4070.
• WANG & LEE GROUP, Inc. WLGS was down, falling 43% to $1.15.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $70.78 while gold traded down 1.7% at $2,607.90.

Silver traded down 4.6% to $29.315 on Thursday, while copper fell 1.5% to $4.0955.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 dipped 1.7%, Germany's DAX fell 1.3% and France's CAC 40 declined 1.3%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 1.7%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 1.3%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.69%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.56%, China's Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.36% and India's BSE Sensex falling 1.20%.

Economics

• The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index dipped to -16.4 in December compared to -5.5 in November and down from market expectations of 3.
• The U.S. economy grew by an annualized rate of 3.1% in the third quarter compared to 2.8% in the second estimate and up from 3% in the previous quarter.
• U.S. existing home sales gained by 4.8% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 4.15 million in November.
• U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 22,000 to 220,000 in the first week of December, compared to market estimates of 230,000.

Now Read This:

• AT&T To Rally More Than 33%? Here Are 10 Top Analyst Forecasts For Thursday