Crude Oil Surges 3%; Kroger Posts Upbeat Earnings

U.S. stocks traded mixed midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 50 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded down 0.11% to 40,814.73 while the NASDAQ rose 0.33% to 17,453.69. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.13% to 5,561.28.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares rose by 1.2% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, real estate shares dipped by 0.6%.

Top Headline

Kroger Company KR reported second-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 93 cents, beating the analyst consensus estimate of 91 cents.

Quarterly sales of $33.912 billion (nearly flat year over year) missed the street view of $34.090 billion. Excluding fuel, sales increased 1.3% compared to the same period last year.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• NETGEAR, Inc. NTGR shares shot up 33% to $21.17 after the company disclosed a settlement agreement with TP-Link Systems and raised its third-quarter revenue guidance.
• Shares of Visionary Holdings Inc. GV got a boost, surging 174% to $5.57 after the company announced it signed an MoU with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, investing $120 million to fully support the development of its various industry projects.
• Smart for Life, Inc. SMFL shares were also up, gaining 39% to $1.1816. HRT Financial LP acquired a new stake in Smart for Life.

Equities Trading DOWN

• ModivCare Inc. MODV shares dropped 53% to $14.64 after the company announced a $200 million mixed securities shelf.
• Shares of Fulcrum Therapeutics, Inc. FULC were down 60% to $3.5508 after the company announced that its Phase 3 REACH trial evaluating losmapimod in patients with FSHD, did not achieve its primary endpoint of change from baseline in RSA with losmapimod compared to placebo.
• Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. ONCT was down, falling 58% to $1.7050 after the company announced termination of its clinical studies and exploration of strategic alternatives.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 3.1% to $69.36 while gold traded up 1.5% at $2,581.40.

Silver traded up 3.5% to $29.935 on Thursday, while copper rose 1.4% to $4.1995.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.74%, Germany's DAX gained 0.89% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.42%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 1.04%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.45%.

The annual inflation rate in Spain eased to 2.3% in August from 2.8% in July, while German wholesale prices fell by 1.1% year-over-year in August.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 jumping 3.41%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.77%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.17% and India's BSE Sensex surging 1.77%.

Manufacturing production in Hong Kong increased 0.7% year-over-year during the second quarter. Producer prices in Japan rose by 2.5% year-over-year in August versus a 3.0% growth in the previous month.

Economics

• U.S. producer prices rose 0.2% month-over-month in August compared to a revised flat reading in the previous month and higher than market estimates of 0.1%.
• U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 2,000 from the earlier week to 230,000 in the week ending Sept. 7.
• U.S. natural-gas stocks rose 40 billion cubic feet during the week ended Sept. 6, compared to market estimates of a 49 bcf gain.

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