Nasdaq Surges Over 1%; Microsoft Posts Upbeat Earnings

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 1% on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.24% to 44,566.33 while the NASDAQ rose 1.26% to 21,395.66. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.76% to 6,411.57.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares jumped by 2.9% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, health care stocks dipped by 0.7%.

Top Headline

Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and issued strong forecast for the current quarter on Wednesday.

Microsoft reported fourth-quarter revenue of $76.44 billion, up 17% year-over-year. The revenue total beat a Street consensus estimate of $73.80 billion according to data from Benzinga Pro. The company reported fourth-quarter earnings per share of $3.65, beating a Street consensus estimate of $3.37.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Soligenix, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNGX) shares shot up 73% to $2.1793 after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter EPS and sales.
• Shares of VerifyMe, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRME) got a boost, surging 64% to $1.1250 after the company announced it entered into a 3-year UPS Digital Channel Program Agreement with the United Parcel Service.
• Psyence Biomedical Ltd. (NASDAQ:PBM) shares were also up, gaining 55% to $8.32 after the company announced it, along with PsyLabs, achieved a breakthrough in GMP-aligned high-purity ibogaine production.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Pulmonx Corporation (NASDAQ:LUNG) shares dropped 37% to $1.9750 after the company reported second-quarter financial results and cut its FY25 sales guidance below estimates. Also, Piper Sandler downgraded the stock from Overweight to Neutral and cut its price target from $9 to $2.5, while D. Boral Capital cut its price target from $17 to $16.
• Shares of Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) were down 31% to $140.66 after the company missed second-quarter earnings estimates and issued soft third-quarter guidance.
• GRI Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRI) was down, falling 31% to $1.43 as the company reported 6-week interim biomarker results from Phase 2a idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis study.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8% to $69.46 while gold traded up 0.1% at $3,354.30.

Silver traded down 2.8% to $36.675 on Thursday, while copper fell 21.4% to $4.3860.

Euro zone

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

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 1.02%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng falling 1.60%, China's Shanghai Composite dipping 1.18% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.36%.

Economics

• The core PCE price index rose 0.3% from the previous month in June.
• Personal spending rose 0.3% month-over-month in June, while personal income rose by 0.3% month-over-month to $25.794 trillion.
• U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 1,000 from the previous week to 218,000 in the fourth week of July, compared to market estimates of 224,000.
• U.S. employment costs rose by 0.9% in the second quarter.
• U.S.-based employers announced job cuts of 62,075 in July.

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