Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.10% to 35,067.66 while the NASDAQ rose 0.20% to 15,316.45. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.04% to 4,516.10.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 40,456,810 cases with around 652,670 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 33,139,980 cases and 441,740 deaths, while Brazil reported over 20,928,000 COVID-19 cases with 584,420 deaths. In total, there were at least 222,596,490 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 4,596,860 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Financials shares gained 0.9% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ocwen Financial Corporation OCN, up 6% and SLR Investment Corp. SLRC up 6%.
In trading on Thursday, real estate shares fell by 0.8%.
Top Headline
US initial jobless claims dropped to 310 thousand in the week ending September 4, versus previous week's level revised level of 345,000. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 335 thousand.
Equities Trading UP
Gevo, Inc. GEVO shares shot up 38% to $7.99. Chevron and Gevo announced intent to pursue sustainable aviation fuel investment.
Shares of Rocket Lab USA, Inc. RKLB got a boost, shooting 34% to $20.17. Rocket Lab reported 1H sales of $29.5 million and announced it has been awarded a contract to deploy an entire satellite constellation for Kinéis. Canaccord Genuity initiated coverage on Rocket Lab USA with a Buy rating and announced a price target of $30.
Torrid Holdings Inc. CURV shares were also up, gaining 24% to $22.95 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results. Torrid sees Q3 sales of $305 million - $315 million, above the consensus of $294.74 million. The company expects FY21 sales of $1.29 billion - $1.31 billion, above the consensus of $1.26 billion.
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
Humanigen, Inc. HGEN shares tumbled 51% to $7.38 after the company said the Food and Drug Administration has declined its request for emergency use authorization of lenzilumab to treat newly hospitalized COVID-19 patients. JP Morgan downgraded Humanigen from Neutral to Underweight.
Shares of Tuesday Morning Corporation TUEM were down 37% to $2.71 after the company reported downbeat Q4 earnings.
Invacare Corporation IVC was down, falling 32% to $5.65 after updating Q3 FY21 guidance. The Company said that headwinds related to labor, material, and freight, will continue to impact its business. For Q3 FY21, Invacare expects constant currency net sales of 0% - 4% Y/Y, against the growth rate of 4% - 7% expected earlier.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $69.40, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,793.90.
Silver traded up 0.3% Thursday to $24.115 while copper rose 1.2% to $4.2825.
Euro zone
European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.01%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.38% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.15%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.99%, French CAC 40 rose 0.28% and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.15%.
The trade surplus for Germany narrowed to €18.1 billion in July from €19.2 billion in the year-ago period, while current account surplus shrank to EUR 17.6 billion from EUR 20.2 billion.
Economics
US initial jobless claims dropped to 310 thousand in the week ending September 4, versus previous week's level revised level of 345,000. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 335 thousand.
US crude oil inventories dropped 1.5 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said.
US natural-gas supplies climbed 52 billion cubic feet last week, the EIA said.
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren will speak at 4:25 p.m. ET.
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