Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.71 percent to 17,906.91 while the NASDAQ rose 0.62 percent to 4,863.40. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.66 percent to 2,099.19.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, financial shares rose by 1.4 percent. Top gainers in the sector included LNB Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ: LNBB) and Bank Of The Ozarks Inc (NASDAQ: OZRK).

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares rose by just 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included CPFL Energia S.A. (ADR) (NYSE: CPL), down 0.5 percent, and Edison International (NYSE: EIX), down 0.4 percent.

Top Headline

BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ: BBRY) announced a better than expected adjusted earnings for the first quarter. However, its top line continued to miss the Street analysts' expectations despite a year-over-year drop.

BlackBerry reported a net loss of $670 million or a loss of $1.28 a share in the first quarter compared to net earnings of $68 million in the year-ago quarter. On a per share basis, it incurred a loss of $0.10 in the first quarter of the previous year. On an adjusted basis, the smartphone maker would have earned $0.00 a share, which was better than the Street analysts' estimations for a loss of $0.08 a share.

The company's GAAP revenue was $400 million while non-GAAP revenue was $424 million, which was below the analysts' predictions of $470.94 million.

Equities Trading UP

CVD Equipment Corporation (NASDAQ: CVV) shares shot up 16 percent to $8.03 after the company reported that it has received a $30 million order from major aviation component supplier.

Shares of Cellectar Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: CLRB) got a boost, shooting up 11 percent to $3.83 as the company reported results of NCI-sponsored study of CLR 125.

Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd (NASDAQ: QUNR) shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $28.74 after the company reported that it has received a go-private offer of $30.39 per ADS from Ocean Management Limited.

Equities Trading DOWN

CACI International Inc (NYSE: CACI) shares dropped 8 percent to $91.59 after the company issued a weak forecast for 2017.

Shares of Steelcase Inc. (NYSE: SCS) were down 7 percent to $13.69. Steelcase reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter, but issued a weak outlook for the second quarter.

Whiting Petroleum Corp (NYSE: WLL) was down, falling around 10 percent to $10.93 as the company reported that it has entered into exchange agreements of $1.06 billion of notes for new mandatory convertible notes.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.49 percent to $49.86 while gold traded down 0.43 percent to $1,264.60.

Silver traded up 0.05 percent Thursday to $17.38, while copper rose 0.87 percent to $2.15.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 1.09 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.62 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 2.58 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 1.18 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 1.48 percent, while U.K. shares rose 0.90 percent.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims declined 18,000 to 259,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 270,000 in the week.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index dropped to –0.51 in May, versus a reading of +0.05 in April.

The flash manufacturing PMI increased to a reading of 51.4 in June, compared to 50.7 in May.

New home sales declined to an annual rate of 551,000 in May, from 619,000 in April. However, economists were expecting a 560,000 pace.

The index of leading indicators dropped 0.2 percent for May.

The EIA’s weekly report on natural gas stocks or the recent week will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.