US Stocks Rise; Initial Jobless Claims Edge Lower

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, following the release of economic reports.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.26% to 34,982.42 while the NASDAQ rose 0.48% to 14,086.54. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.29% to 4,528.08.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares jumped by 0.9% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares fell by 0.4%.

 

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 4,000 from the previous week’s revised reading to 228,000 on the week ending Aug. 26, compared to market estimates of 235,000.

 

Equities Trading UP

Acer Therapeutics Inc. ACER shares shot up 164% to $1.61 after Zevra Therapeutics announced it will acquire the company. The transaction will have a total potential value for Acer stockholders of up to $91 million.

Shares of noco-noco Inc. NCNC got a boost, shooting 45% to $2.32 after falling 20% on Wednesday.

Longeveron Inc. LGVN shares were also up, gaining 37% to $3.3499.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

AgileThought, Inc. AGIL shares dropped 29% to $0.2025 after jumping 83% on Wednesday.

Shares of Axcella Health Inc. AXLA were down 24% to $0.2904 after falling 15% on Wednesday.

Martin Midstream Partners L.P. MMLP was down, falling 18% to $2.4950.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $82.09 while gold traded down 0.1% at $1,971.40.

Silver traded down 0.6% to $24.595 on Thursday while copper fell 0.9% to $3.8115.

 

Euro zone

European shares were slightly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.2% London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.3% The German DAX rose 0.7% French CAC 40 fell 0.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.1%.

The annual inflation rate in the Eurozone came in steady at 5.3% in August, while unemployment rate stood at a record low level of 6.4% in July. German unemployment rate came in unchanged at 5.7% in August.

The French economy grew by 0.5% on quarter in the second quarter, while consumer price inflation rose to 4.8% year-over-year in August. The annual inflation rate in Italy eased to 5.5% in August from 5.9% in the prior month, while jobless rate rose to 7.6% in July from a revised 7.5% in the previous month.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.88%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.55% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 0.55%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, fell 0.4%.

Retail sales in Hong Kong climbed 14% year-over-year in July versus a revised 17.4% surge in the prior month. The official NBS Non-Manufacturing PMI for China fell to 51.0 in August from 51.5 in the prior month.

Japanese housing starts fell by 6.7% year-over-year in July, while retail sales climbed 6.8% year-over-year in July. Industrial production in Japan fell by 2.0% month-over-month in July.

 

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 4,000 from the previous week’s revised reading to 228,000 on the week ending Aug. 26, compared to market estimates of 235,000.

Core PCE prices in the U.S. rose by 0.2% month-over-month in July.

Personal spending in current dollars rose by 0.8% in July, while personal income rose by 0.2% over a month in July.

The Chicago Business Barometer climbed to 48.7 in August from 42.8 in July.

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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 108,070,840 cases with around 1,173,590 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,997,110 cases and 531,920 deaths, while France reported over 40,138,560 COVID-19 cases with 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 694,605,410 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,911,440 deaths.