Dow Surges 150 Points; US Jobless Claims Decline Sharply

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 150 points on Wednesday.

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.43% to 35,239.40 while the NASDAQ rose 1% to 14,342.66. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.63% to 4,566.74.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares surged by 1.2% on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 1.7%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 24,000 to 209,000 on the week ending Nov. 18, compared to market expectations of 225,000.

Equities Trading UP

AgileThought, Inc. AGIL shares shot up 129% to $0.1901 after gaining 5% on Tuesday.

Shares of SciSparc Ltd. SPRC got a boost, shooting 23% to $7.81 after the company announced it signed a non-binding letter of intent to merge with a vehicle importer company in Israel.

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. EIGR shares were also up, gaining 19% to $0.37.

Equities Trading DOWN

Nogin, Inc. NOGN shares dropped 18% to $0.3117 after jumping 21% on Tuesday.

Shares of Alterity Therapeutics Limited ATHE were down 18% to $1.9409.

Guess?, Inc. GES was down, falling 13% to $20.56 after the company reported worse-than-expected third-quarter financial results and issued fourth-quarter adjusted EPS guidance below estimates.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.7% to $75.65 while gold traded up 0.1% at $2,004.10.

Silver traded up 0.2% to $23.91 on Wednesday while copper fell 0.9% to $3.7785.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.3%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.4% The German DAX rose 0.4% French CAC 40 climbed 0.4%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.3%.

Passenger car registrations in the European Union jumped 14.6% year-over-year to 855.5 thousand units for October. The UK’s public sector net borrowing, excluding banks, came in at £14.9 billion for October, compared to £10.5 billion in the year-ago month. Labor productivity in the UK declined 0.2% on quarter during the third quarter versus a 0.7% rise in the prior period.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.29%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.01% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.79%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.14%.

Singapore's current account surplus narrowed to SGD 30.07 billion in the third quarter from SGD 32.73 billion in the year-ago period. Singapore’s GDP increased by 1.1% year-over-year in the third quarter following 0.5% growth in the prior quarter.