Dow Jumps 75 Points; US Consumer Confidence Surges In August

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones gaining around 75 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.19% to 40,638.81 while the NASDAQ rose 0.25% to 17,638.93. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.16% to 5,551.89.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares climbed by 0.4% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, materials shares fell 0.4%.

Top Headline

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment climbed to 67.8 in August from 66.4 in the prior month and topping market estimates of 66.9.

Equities Trading UP

Cingulate Inc. CING shares shot up 94% to $9.32 after the company on Thursday was granted European patent No. 3261625 for CTx-1301, its lead asset for the treatment of ADHD.
Shares of Zoomcar Holdings, Inc. ZCAR got a boost, surging 100% to $0.2219 after the company reported first-quarter results.
H&R Block, Inc. HRB shares were also up, gaining 18% to $68.10 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and issued FY25 guidance above estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

Sonida Senior Living, Inc. SNDA shares dropped 16% to $26.89 after the company announced the pricing of an upsized public offering of 4.3 million shares at $27 per share.
Shares of Shimmick Corporation SHIM were down 23% to $2.5309 after the company reported worse-than-expected quarterly financial results.
ENDRA Life Sciences Inc. NDRA was down, falling 25% to $0.0389 after the company announced a 1-for-50 reverse stock split, effective on August 20.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.8% to $76.76 while gold traded up 1.4% at $2,527.10.

Silver traded up 0.1% to $28.445 on Friday, while copper fell 0.7% to $4.1220.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.17%, Germany's DAX rose 0.64% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.13%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.55%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.44%.

The Eurozone recorded a trade surplus of EUR 22.3 billion in June, higher than market expectations of EUR 13.3 billion. Retail sales in the UK climbed 0.5% month-over-month in July compared to a revised 0.9% decline in the prior month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 jumping 3.64%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbing 1.88%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.07% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 1.68%.

Hong Kong's economy grew by 3.3% year-over-year in the second quarter compared to a 2.8% increase in the previous period, while unemployment rate came in unchanged at 3% in the three months ending July.

Economics

Housing starts in the U.S. declined by 6.8% from the prior month to an annualized rate of 1.238 million in July.
Building permits dropped by 4% to an annual rate of 1.396 million in July.
The University of Michigan consumer sentiment climbed to 67.8 in August from 66.4 in the prior month and topping market estimates of 66.9.

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