Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Nasdaq Rises 150 Points; Emclaire Financial Shares Spike Higher

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq composite gaining over 150 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.76% to 34,621.33 while the NASDAQ rose 1.19% to 14,088.89. The S&P also rose, gaining, 1% to 4,500.69.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares jumped by 1.9% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Evolv Technologies Holdings, Inc. EVLV, up 24% and GreenBox POS GBOX up 19%.

In trading on Thursday, real estate shares rose by just 0.2%.

Top Headline

US initial jobless claims dropped by 28 thousand to 187 thousand in the week ended March 19th, versus a revised 215 thousand in the prior period and versus market estimates of 212 thousand. Weekly jobless claims fell to the lowest level since September 6, 1969.

 

Equities Trading UP

Evelo Biosciences, Inc. EVLO shares shot up 15% to $3.75 following Q4 results.

Shares of Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. APVO got a boost, shooting 28% to $6.70 after the company reported FY21 financial results.

Emclaire Financial Corp EMCF shares were also up, gaining 32% to $38.20 after the company and Farmers National Banc Corp. announced a merger.

Equities Trading DOWN

LiqTech International, Inc. LIQT shares tumbled 37% to $2.96 after reporting downbeat Q4 results.

Shares of Vicinity Motor Corp. VEV were down 26% to $2.44 after the company announced a $12 million direct registered offering.

Traeger, Inc. COOK was down, falling 13% to $7.64 after the company reported Q4 earnings results. Jefferies downgraded Traeger from Buy to Hold and announced a $7 price target.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5% to $113.22, while gold traded up 1.5% to $1,965.40.

Silver traded up 2.8% Thursday to $25.90 while copper fell 1.1% to $4.7225.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.21%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.09%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.28%. The German DAX fell 0.07%, French CAC 40 fell 0.39% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.42%.

The IHS Markit Eurozone manufacturing PMI declined to 57 in March from 58.2 in February. The IHS Markit French composite PMI climbed to 56.2 in March from 55.5 in February, while German composite PMI slipped to 54.6 in March from 55.6 in February. The manufacturing climate indicator in France fell to a 11-month low level of 106 in March.

Economics

US durable goods orders fell 2.2% month-over-month in February.

US initial jobless claims dropped by 28 thousand to 187 thousand in the week ended March 19th, versus a revised 215 thousand in the prior period and versus market estimates of 212 thousand. Weekly jobless claims fell to the lowest level since September 6, 1969.

The current account deficit narrowed to $217.9 billion in the fourth quarter from a revised $219.9 billion in the previous period.

The S&P Global Manufacturing PMI rose to 58.5 in March from 57.3 in February, while services PMI climbed to 58.9 in March from 56.5.

US natural-gas supplies dropped 51 billion cubic feet last week, the Energy Information Administration said.

The Kansas City Fed's Manufacturing Production Index climbed to 46 in March, recording the highest level on record.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 81,527,320 cases with around 1,001,170 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,014,680 cases and 516,700 deaths, while Brazil reported over 29,729,990 COVID-19 cases with 658,060 deaths. In total, there were at least 476,666,310 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,129,160 deaths.