Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.29% to 33,935.28 while the NASDAQ rose 0.34% to 14,086.74. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01% to 4,223.07.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,498,510 cases with around 600,650 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 29,700,310 cases and 381,900 deaths, while Brazil reported over 17,628,580 COVID-19 cases with 493,690 deaths. In total, there were at least 177,069,910 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,833,790 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Information technology shares rose 0.6% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included ACM Research, Inc. ACMR, up 5%, and 908 Devices Inc. MASS, up 5%.
In trading on Thursday, materials shares fell 1.3%.
Top Headline
The Kroger Co. KR reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter and announced a $1 billion buyback program.
Kroger reported quarterly earnings of $1.19 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $1.01 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $41.30 billion, topping expectations of $39.78 billion.
Kroger boosted its FY21 adjusted EPS guidance from $2.75-$2.95 to $2.95-$3.10.
Equities Trading UP
Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. APOP shares shot up 60% to $5.24 after the company announced it filed a registration statement in connect with the proposed merger agreement with Quoin Pharmaceuticals.
Shares of Midatech Pharma plc MTP got a boost, shooting 54% to $3.1499 after the company announced breakthrough data using Q-Sphera technology.
9F Inc. JFU shares were also up, gaining 35% to $3.02 after dropping 15% on Wednesday.
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
CureVac N.V. CVAC shares tumbled 48% to $48.88 after the company said results of the second interim analysis of CureVac's international Phase 2b/3 study of its first-generation vaccine candidate showed vaccine efficacy of 47% against COVID-19 disease of any severity. The company also said the trial did not meet prespecified statistical success criteria.
Shares of Novan, Inc. NOVN were down 19% to $11.17 after the company priced its 3.6 million share offering at $11 per share.
Torchlight Energy Resources, Inc. TRCH was down, falling 18% to $4.8950 after jumping 18% on Wednesday. The company late Monday declared a special dividend and said its combination with Metamaterial is expected to close before the end of June.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.1% to $72.12, while gold traded down 3.1% to $1,804.20.
Silver traded down 3.6% Thursday to $26.80 while copper fell 1.8% to $4.3050.
Euro zone
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.4%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.2% and the German DAX 30 fell 0.1%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.2%.
Passenger car registrations in the European Union surged 53.4% year-over-year to 891,665 units in May. Spanish trade deficit shrank to EUR 1.30 billion in April from EUR 1.52 billion in the year-ago month, while Italy swung to a trade surplus of EUR 5.870 billion in April versus a EUR 1.117 billion gap in the year-ago period.
Economics
US initial jobless claims increased to 412 thousand last week, recording the first rise in more than one month.
The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index declined to 30.7 in June versus 31.5 in May.
The index of leading economic indicators rose 1.3% for May.
The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
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