Dow Dips 250 Points; US Weekly Jobless Claims Surge

U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite falling more than 200 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded down 0.61% to 40,947.68 while the NASDAQ fell 1.22% to 17,776.55. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.79% to 5,544.08.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 0.7% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, information technology shares fell by 0.8%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 10,000 to 243,000 in the week ending July 13, compared to market estimates of 230,000.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• CommScope Holding Company, Inc. COMM shares shot up 15% to $1.9693. Amphenol announced plans to acquire mobile networks businesses from CommScope.
• Shares of Silo Pharma, Inc. SILO got a boost, surging 79% to $4.0391. Silo Pharma said it has entered into a Device and CMC Development Master Plan with Resyca BV, a medical technology provider.
• Chuy’s Holdings, Inc. CHUY shares were also up, gaining 48% to $37.35 after Darden Restaurants announced it will acquire the company.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Agenus Inc. AGEN shares dropped 56% to $7.80 after the company announced the FDA discouraged an accelerated approval pathway at the end-of-Phase 2 meeting.
• Shares of Leslie’s, Inc. LESL were down 36% to $2.6299 after the company reported preliminary financial results for the third quarter and cut its full-year guidance. Multiple analysts also lowered price targets on the stock Thursday morning.
• Torrid Holdings Inc. CURV was down, falling 18% to $7.05 after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock from Equal-Weight to Underweight and maintained its $5 price target.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8% to $82.19 while gold traded up 0.4% at $2,469.40.

Silver traded down 0.1% to $30.36 on Thursday, while copper fell 2.6% to $4.2920.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.27%, Germany's DAX rose 0.01% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.68%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.58%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.45%.

Construction output in the Eurozone fell 2.4% year-over-year in May compared to a revised 1.5% decline in the prior month. Passenger car registrations in the European Union climbed 4.3% year-over-year to 1.1 million units in June.

Regular pay in the U.K., excluding bonus payment, rose 5.7% year-over-year to GBP 643/week during the three months to May, while the unemployment rate came in unchanged at 4.4% from March to May.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 dipping 2.36%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.22%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.48% and India's S&P BSE Sensex climbing 0.78%.

Hong Kong’s unemployment rate came in unchanged at 3% during the three months ending June. Japan reported a trade surplus of JPY 224.04 billion in June, compared to market views for a deficit of JPY 240 billion.

Economics

• U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 10,000 to 243,000 in the week ending July 13, compared to market estimates of 230,000.
• The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index rose to 13.9 in July, recording the strongest level in three months, versus 1.3 in June.
• The EIA said U.S. natural gas stocks rose by 10 billion cubic feet in the week ended July 12, compared to market estimates of a 28 billion cubic feet gain.

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