Why U.S. Stocks Are Trading Sharply Lower, Jobless Claims Report And More

U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Dow Jones dropping around 450 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 1.47% to 30,572.36 while the NASDAQ fell 1.39% to 11,022.86. The S&P also fell, dropping, 1.28% to 3,770.05.

Also check this: RH, Walgreens And 3 Stocks To Watch Heading Into Thursday

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares fell by just 0.6% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included ReNew Energy Global plc RNW, up 1% and Korea Electric Power Corporation KEP up 1%.

In trading on Thursday, financials shares fell by 2.1%.

Top Headline

US initial jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 231,000 in the week ended June 25th, compared with analysts' estimates of 228,000.

Equities Trading UP

NeuroSense Therapeutics Ltd. NRSN shares shot up 42% to $3.94 after the company announced results from a biomarker study to evaluate the potential of CogniC, a combination drug for Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Shares of Rapid Micro Biosystems, Inc. RPID got a boost, shooting 39% to $4.4201 after Kennedy Lewis Investment Management LLC announced an offer to acquire Rapid Micro Biosystems.

Aspen Aerogels, Inc. ASPN shares were also up, gaining 22% to $10.30 after the company announced its decision not to proceed with concurrent public offerings of common stock and green convertible senior notes due 2027.

Equities Trading DOWN

SMART Global Holdings, Inc. SGH shares tumbled 21% to $16.10. SMART Global reported upbeat results for its third quarter, but issued weak forecast for the current quarter. The company also agreed to acquire Stratus Technologies for $225 million in cash at closing and an earn-out payment of up to $50 million.

Shares of Cryptyde Inc. TYDE were down 54% to $2.8999.

Duck Creek Technologies, Inc. DCT was down, falling 23% to $14.21 after the company issued Q4 and FY22 sales guidance below estimates. The company also reported a year-over-year decrease in Q3 EPS results.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.1% to $108.54, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,819.30.

Silver traded down 0.7% to $20.525 on Thursday while copper fell 1.6% to $3.7195.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 1.8%, London's FTSE 100 fell 2.2% while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 2%. The German DAX dropped 2.4%, French CAC 40 fell 2.4% and Italy's FTSE MIB Index fell 2.5%.

Retail sales in Spain rose by 1.4% year-over-year in May compared to revised 1.6% increase in the prior month, while annual inflation rate increased to 10.2% in June from 8.7% in May. Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 4.6% year-over-year in May.

Economics

US initial jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 231,000 in the week ended June 25th, compared with analysts' estimates of 228,000.

The personal consumption expenditure price index rose 0.6% month-over-month in May.

Personal spending in the US rose 0.2% month-over-month in May, while personal income rose 0.5% from a month ago in 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.

Data on farm prices for May will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Check out this: US Jobless Claims And Other Macro Issues For Thursday

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 89,236,440 cases with around 1,042,290 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,452,160 cases and 525,110 deaths, while Brazil reported over 32,283,340 COVID-19 cases with 671,190 deaths. In total, there were at least 551,913,790 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,356,510 deaths.