Dow Surges Over 500 Points; US Retail Sales Rise In July

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 500 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 1.29% to 40,523.31 while the NASDAQ jumped 1.34% to 17,423.38. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.09% to 5,514.51.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares climbed by 2.6% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 0.6%.

Top Headline

U.S. retail sales gained 1% month-over-month in July versus a revised 0.2% decline in June and higher than market estimates of a 0.3% gain.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Cingulate Inc. CING shares shot up 149% to $4.60 after the company was granted European patent No. 3261625 for CTx-1301, its lead asset for the treatment of ADHD.
• Shares of VS MEDIA Holdings Limited VSME got a boost, surging 61% to $1.1500.
• SciSparc Ltd. SPRC shares were also up, gaining 45% to $0.4671 after the company announced the courts approval to convene a meeting of shareholders to approve a merger with AutoMax.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Turnstone Biologics Corp. TSBX shares dropped 49% to $1.1137 after the company reported worse-than-expected second-quarter EPS results.
• Shares of SIGA Technologies, Inc. SIGA were down 40% to $7.19 after the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced topline results from a preliminary analysis of the PALM 007 trial of Tecovirimat for Monkeypox virus did not meet its primary endpoint.
• Terran Orbital Corporation LLAP was down, falling 37% to $0.2522. Lockheed Martin announced plans to acquire Terran Orbital.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.2% to $77.89 while gold traded up 0.1% at $2,481.90.

Silver traded up 3.1% to $28.175 on Thursday, while copper rose 2.2% to $4.13.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 1.1%, Germany's DAX rose 1.3% and France's CAC 40 rose 1.1%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 1%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.8%.

The British economy grew by 0.9% year-over-year in the second quarter, recording the biggest annual growth rate since the third quarter of 2022. Labor productivity in the UK increased 0.3% on quarter during the second quarter. The UK’s trade deficit narrowed to £5.32 billion in June versus a revised £5.77 billion in the earlier month. Industrial production in the UK climbed 0.8% month-over-month for June.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 jumping 0.78%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.03% and China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.94%.

Industrial production in Japan fell by 4.2% month-over-month during June, while Japanese economy expanded by 3.1% on an annualized basis in the second quarter. China’s retail sales climbed by 2.7% year-over-year in July versus market estimates of 2.6%. China's industrial production rose by 5.1% year-over-year in July.

Economics

• U.S. retail sales gained 1% month-over-month in July versus a revised 0.2% decline in June and higher than market estimates of a 0.3% gain.
• The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index declined to -7 in August from 13.9 in July and versus market estimates of 7.
• The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index rose to -4.7 in August, notching the highest level in six months.
• Export prices increased 0.7% month-over-month in July, while import prices rose 0.1%.
• U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 7,000 to 227,000 in the week ending August 10, versus market estimates of 235,000.
• U.S industrial production declined by 0.6% from the prior month in July compared to a revised 0.3% gain in June.

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