Dow Jumps Over 200 Points; US Initial Jobless Claims Fall

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining over 200 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.57% to 41,349.21 while the NASDAQ gained 0.84% to 17,886.92. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.62% to 5,666.44.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose by 1.3% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, health care stocks fell by 0.9%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 13,000 to 228,000 in the week ending May 3, compared to market estimates of 230,000

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Jianzhi Education Technology Group Company Limited (NASDAQ:JZ) shares shot up 47% to $1.10.
• Shares of Asset Entities Inc. (NASDAQ:ASST) got a boost, surging 83% to $6.21. Asset Entities shares jumped 450% on Wednesday after the company announced it entered into a merger agreement with Strive Asset Management to be the first publicly traded asset management bitcoin treasury company.
• Solidion Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:STI) shares were also up, gaining 57% to $0.1473 after the company presented its patented technology for transforming lithium-ion facilities into battery producers.

Equities Trading DOWN

• NuCana plc (NASDAQ:NCNA) shares dropped 65% to $0.1058 after dipping 25% on Wednesday. NuCana recently announced a registered direct offering with approximately $7 million gross proceeds.
• Shares of Vor Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ:VOR) were down 60% to $0.2126 after the company announced exploration of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value.
• Compass Diversified (NYSE:CODI) was down, falling 58% to $7.18. Compass Diversified disclosed non-reliance on financial statements for fiscal 2024 amid an ongoing internal investigation into its subsidiary, Lugano Holding, Inc.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.7% to $59.08 while gold traded down 0.8% at $3,365.60.

Silver traded down 0.3% to $32.685 on Thursday, while copper fell 1.2% to $4.6035.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.6%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.1%. London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.1%, Germany's DAX 40 rose 0.8% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.8% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei gaining 0.41%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.37%, China's Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.28% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.51%.

Economics

• U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 13,000 to 228,000 in the week ending May 3, compared to market estimates of 230,000.
• U.S. labor productivity in the nonfarm business sector declined by 0.8% during the first quarter compared to estimates of a 0.7% drop.
• U.S. unit labor costs increased by 5.7% in the first quarter of compared to market estimates of a 5.1% gain.

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