Dow Jumps 250 Points; American Airlines Issues Weak Outlook

U.S. stocks traded mixed midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 250 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.58% to 44,412.35 while the NASDAQ fell 0.30% to 19,949.51. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.09% to 6,091.83.

Check This Out: This Electronic Arts Analyst Is No Longer Bullish; Here Are Top 5 Downgrades For Thursday

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares surged by 0.9% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, information technology shares fell by 0.6%.

Top Headline

American Airlines Group Inc. AAL reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter 2024 results but issued weak outlook.

The airline's operating revenue grew 4.6% year-over-year to $13.66 billion, beating the consensus of $13.395 billion. The company reported adjusted EPS of $0.86, up from $0.29 a year ago, above the consensus of $0.64.

For the first quarter, American Airlines expects adjusted EPS loss to be between $0.20 to $0.40 versus a $0.04 loss estimate and adjusted operating margin of ~ flat to 1%. AAL expects first-quarter revenue to increase 3%- 5% year over year and total capacity to be ~flat to -2%.

Equities Trading UP

TAL Education Group TAL shares shot up 14% to $10.39 after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter financial results.
Shares of Vince Holding Corp. VNCEgot a boost, surging 85% to $4.3501 after the company announced P180 is acquiring a majority stake in the company.
LSI Industries Inc. LYTS shares were also up, gaining 20% to $23.65 after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter financial results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Icon Energy Corp. ICON shares dropped 65% to $0.4635 after the company announced a $12 million public offering
Shares of Vertical Aerospace Ltd. EVTL were down 37% to $5.80 after the company announced a $90 million public offering.
Electronic Arts Inc. EA was down, falling 17% to $117.48 after the company reported preliminary third-quarter results, including a slowdown in the Global Football franchise. Multiple analysts downgraded the stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.5% to $75.85 while gold traded down 0.8% at $2,748.50.

Silver traded down 2.7% to $30.58 on Thursday, while copper fell 0.1% to $4.2950.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.13%, Germany's DAX 40 rose 0.34% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.43%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.49%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.13%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.79%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.51%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.40% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 0.15%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 6,000 from the previous week to 223,000 in the week ending Jan. 18, compared to market estimates of 220,000.

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