US Stocks Edge Higher; Initial Jobless Claims Fall

U.S. stocks traded slightly higher this morning on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.01% to 39,913.23 while the NASDAQ rose 0.06% to 16,753.07. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.06% to 5,311.26.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares rose by 1.1% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, materials shares fell by 0.4%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 10,000 to 222,000 in the week ending May 11, compared to market estimates of 220,000.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Lucy Scientific Discovery Inc. LSDI shares shot up 224% to $1.6750.
• Shares of Greenwave Technology Solutions, Inc. GWAV got a boost, surging 77% to $0.1063 after jumping around 34% on Wednesday.
• TSR, Inc. TSRI shares were also up, gaining 65% to $13.14 after the company announced that it entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Vienna Parent.

Equities Trading DOWN

• KULR Technology Group, Inc. KULR shares dropped 26% to $0.3451 after the company announced worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results.
• Shares of Spire Global, Inc. SPIR were down 24% to $8.63 after the company reported mixed first-quarter financial results on Wednesday.
• Omeros Corporation OMER was down, falling 22% to $3.2398 after the company announced a wider-than-expected quarterly loss.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.3% to $79.68 while gold traded down 0.7% at $2,377.70.

Silver traded down 0.4% to $29.605 on Thursday, while copper fell 1.3% to $4.8595.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 slipped 0.06%, Germany's DAX fell 0.5% and France's CAC 40 fell 0.4%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.18%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.1%.

Italy reported a trade surplus of EUR 4.341 billion in March, versus a year-ago surplus of EUR 3.327 billion. The annual inflation rate in Italy slowed to 0.8% in April versus 1.2% a month ago.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei gaining 1.39%, China's Composite Index climbing 1.59%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.08% and India's S&P BSE Sensex gaining 0.7%.

Industrial production in Japan rose by 4.4% month-over-month in March following a 0.6% decline in the earlier month. Japan's economy shrank by 2.0% in the first quarter, versus market expectations for a 1.5% decline.

Economics

• U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 10,000 to 222,000 in the week ending May 11, compared to market estimates of 220,000.
• U.S. housing starts increased 5.7% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 1.36 million in April, while building permits declined by 3% to 1.440 million.
• U.S. industrial production came in little changed in April, compared to a 0.1% gain in March.
• Import prices increased 0.9% month-over-month in April, while export prices rose 0.5% in April.
• The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index fell 11 points to a reading of 4.5 in May versus a reading of 15.5 in April.

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