Dow Drops 100 Points; US Jobless Claims Fall Further Last Week

U.S. stocks traded mostly lower this morning, with the Dow Jones dropping 100 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.32% to 31,479.83 while the NASDAQ fell 0.10% to 11,779.54. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.21% to 3,971.43.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 0.5% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included YPF Sociedad Anónima YPF, up 6% and Uranium Royalty Corp. UROY up 3%.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares fell by 0.9%.

Top Headline

Unemployment insurance filings fell for a fourth straight week to the lowest levels since May showing continued strength in U.S. labor demand. Jobless claims fell 6,000 for the week ending Sept. 3 to 222,000 from a downwardly revised level of 228,000 in the prior week, according to data the Labor Department released on Thursday. The number came in below average economist estimates of 240,000.

 

Equities Trading UP

 

• ShiftPixy, Inc. PIXY shares shot up 89% to $21.13 after the company announced plans to spin-off ShiftPixy Labs and dividend its digital securities to shareholders.
• Shares of Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. AMLX got a boost, shooting 65% to $29.58 after the FDA Advisory Committee voted that available evidence of effectiveness is sufficient to support approval of AMX0035 for the treatment of ALS. Citigroup and SVB Leerink raised their price targets.
• Asana, Inc. ASAN shares were also up, gaining 23% to $23.42 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and issued a strong sales guidance. RBC Capital and Citigroup raised their price targets on the stock.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

• PlayAGS, Inc. AGS shares tumbled 18% to $6.25.
• Shares of MasterCraft Boat Holdings, Inc. MCFT were down 15% to $20.16. The company posted upbeat quarterly earnings, but issued weak FY23 forecast. MasterCraft Boat also sold its NauticStar business to Iconic Marine Group.
• Tandy Leather Factory Inc. TLF was down, falling 13% to $5.37 following uplisting of its stock.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.2% to $83.77, while gold traded down 0.3% at $1,722.80.

Silver traded up 0.9% to $18.415 on Thursday while copper rose 1.8% to $3.4940.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.3%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.2%. The German DAX dropped 1%, French CAC 40 fell 0.5% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.3%.

The ECB has raised the interest rate by 75 bps to 1.25%, in line with the expectations. It hiked the Deposit Facility rate by 75 bps to 0.75%, higher than the expected 0.50%. Its Marginal Lending Facility rate now stands at 1.50%.

France recorded a current account deficit of EUR 5.3 billion in July versus a revised EUR 1.5 billion gap in the prior month, while trade gap widened to €14.54 billion in July versus a revised €13.08 billion in the previous month. Payroll employment in France’s private sector increased by 0.5% to 20.72 million in the second quarter.

 

Economics

 

• Unemployment insurance filings fell for a fourth straight week to the lowest levels since May showing continued strength in U.S. labor demand. Jobless claims fell 6,000 for the week ending Sept. 3 to 222,000 from a downwardly revised level of 228,000 in the prior week, according to data the Labor Department released on Thursday. The number came in below average economist estimates of 240,000.
• The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
• The EIA’s weekly report on petroleum inventories will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.
• The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.
• Data on consumer credit for July will be released at 3:00 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 96,870,370 cases with around 1,074,170 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,478,630 cases and 528,090 deaths, while France reported over 34,643,240 COVID-19 cases with 154,370 deaths. In total, there were at least 612,184,990 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,509,870 deaths.