Nasdaq Surges 100 Points; Walmart Raises Full-Year Outlook

U.S. stocks turned higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 100 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.09% to 33,451.95 while the NASDAQ rose 0.79% to 12,599.66. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.44% to 4,177.22.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Financials shares rose by 2.2% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included SelectQuote, Inc. SLQT, up 35%, and National Western Life Group, Inc. NWLI, up 41%.
• In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares fell 0.2%.

Top Headline

Walmart Inc WMT reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter and raised full-year forecast.

Walmart reported quarterly sales growth of 7.6% year-on-year to $152.30 billion, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $148.65 billion. Adjusted EPS was $1.47, beating the consensus of $1.32.

For FY24, the company raised FY24 adjusted EPS guidance from $5.90 - $6.05 to $6.10 - $6.20 versus an estimate of $6.15. It also raised FY24 net sales guidance from 2.5% - 3% growth to 3.5% growth (CC).

Equities Trading UP

• Enveric Biosciences, Inc. ENVB shares shot up 122% to $3.37 after the company announced it has received a Notice of Allowance from the USPTO for a patent application involving EB-373, the company's new chemical entity psilocin prodrug.
• Shares of Eltek Ltd. ELTK got a boost, shooting 29% to $5.08 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.
• SciPlay Corporation SCPL shares were also up, gaining 26% to $19.67 after Light & Wonder announced a proposal to acquire the remaining public shares of the company.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Motus GI Holdings, Inc. MOTS shares dropped 21% to $0.79 after the company reported a $3.5 million private placement priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules.
• Shares of Williams Industrial Services Group Inc. WLMS were down 26% to $0.69 after the company reported first-quarter results.
• Smart for Life, Inc.. SMFL was down, falling 21% to $2.65 after the company reported a $1.58 million registered direct offering priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.7% to $72.36 while gold traded down 1.2% at $1,960.40.

Silver traded down 1.1% to $23.635 on Thursday while copper fell 1.4% to $3.7010.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.30%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.02% The German DAX climbed 1.07%, French CAC 40 gained 0.54% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.34%.

Spanish trade deficit shrank to EUR 0.16 billion, recording its smallest gap since May 2021.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.60%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.85% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbing 0.40%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex slipped 0.1%.

Hong Kong’s unemployment rate declined to 3% in the three months ending April from 3.1% in the prior period. Australia's unemployment rate increased to 3.7% in April. Japanese trade deficit declined to JPY 432.4 billion in April compared to a JPY 854.9 billion gap in the same month of the previous year.

Economics

• U.S. jobless claims dropped to 242 thousand in the week ending May 13, versus an 18-month high level of 264 thousand and compared to market estimates of 254 thousand.
• The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index rose to -10.4 in May versus a reading of -31.3 in April.
• U.S. natural gas supplies jumped 99 billion cubic feet last week, the EIA said.

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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 106,859,470 cases with around 1,163,680 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,983,150 cases and 531,790 deaths, while France reported over 40,054,860 COVID-19 cases with 167,050 deaths. In total, there were at least 688,579,060 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,876,400 deaths.