Dow Surges 100 Points; US Initial Jobless Claims Rise

U.S. stocks traded mostly higher this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining around 100 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.30% to 38,923.18 while the NASDAQ rose 0.03% to 17,192.90. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.10% to 5,359.50.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose by 0.4% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, real estate shares fell by 0.6%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 8,000 to 229,000 in the week ending June 1, compared to market estimates of 220,000.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Virax Biolabs Group Limited VRAX shares shot up 140% to $2.55.
• Shares of Latam Logistic Properties, S.A. LPA got a boost, surging 105% to $65.00 after dipping around 83% on Wednesday.
• Freight Technologies, Inc. FRGT shares were also up, gaining 97% to $1.2450 after the company said it added 26 new customers and 149 new carriers in 2024.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Actelis Networks, Inc. ASNS shares dropped 38% to $2.3000 after the company announced an agreement for the immediate exercise of certain outstanding warrants for gross proceeds of $3 million.
• Shares of Jowell Global Ltd. JWEL were down 30% to $1.56 after jumping over 98% on Wednesday.
• Moving iMage Technologies, Inc. MITQ was down, falling 22% to $0.7850. Moving iMage Technologies was recently awarded a multi-million dollar contract.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.7% to $74.56 while gold traded up 0.1% at $2,377.00.

Silver traded up 0.7% to $30.29 on Thursday, while copper rose 0.9% to $4.6460.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.5%, Germany's DAX gained 0.3% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.2%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.4%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.3%.

The ECB cut the three key interest rates by 25 basis points, in line with market estimates. Retail sales in the Eurozone fell 0.5% month-over-month in April compared to revised 0.7% gain in March, while Eurozone construction PMI increased to 42.9 in May from 41.9 in the prior month.

The S&P Global UK construction PMI climbed to 54.7 in May, recording the highest level since May 2022, while The France construction PMI increased to 43.4 in May from 41.5 a month ago. Factory orders in Germany fell by 0.2% month-over-month for April.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei gaining 0.55%, China's Composite Index falling 0.54%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.28% and India's S&P BSE Sensex gaining 0.7%.

Australia’s trade surplus on goods increased to AUD 6.55 billion in April 2024 compared to a revised AUD 4.84 billion surplus in the prior month. Exports of goods from Australia fell 2.5% to a 28-month low level of AUD 43.32 billion in April, while imports of goods dipped by 7.2% to a three-month low level of AUD 36.77 billion.

Economics

• U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 8,000 to 229,000 in the week ending June 1, compared to market estimates of 220,000.
• The trade deficit in the U.S. increased to $74.6 billion in April versus a revised $68.6 billion gap in March.
• Unit labor costs in the nonfarm business sector rose by an annualized 4% in the first quarter compared to a revised 2.8% fall in the previous period.
• Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased by 0.2% in the first quarter compared to preliminary reading of a 0.3% gain.

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