U.S. stocks are on a rollercoaster this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite riding high, gaining more than 100 points on Thursday.
Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow was down 0.33% to 37,143.30 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.97% to 15,000.30. The S&P 500 also joined the party, notching up a 0.43% increase to 4,759.68.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
The technology sector was the shining star, with information technology shares rising by a substantial 1.4% on Thursday.
In contrast, health care shares took a tumble, dipping by 0.9%.
Top Headline
In a turn of good fortune, U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 16,000 to a mere 187,000 in the week ending January 18, significantly lower than market estimates of 207,000.
Equities Trading UP
Agrify Corporation AGFY shares took flight, shooting up an impressive 133% to $2.75. Agrify announced its entry into the first Hydrocarbon Extraction Lab & Vertical Farming unit facility in California.
Shares of Lytus Technologies Holdings PTV. Ltd. LYT also enjoyed a boost, surging 114% to $0.2032 after a 5% fall on Wednesday.
Celularity Inc. CELU shares were also up, gaining 59% to $0.3013 after declining more than 5% on Wednesday.
Equities Trading DOWN
Aravive, Inc. ARAV shares dropped a staggering 51% to $0.0541. Aravive made the shocking announcement of its intention to voluntarily terminate the listing of its common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
Shares of Processa Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PCSA were down 29% to $0.1963. Processa Pharmaceuticals shared its plan to effect a 1-for-20 reverse stock split.
Newcourt Acquisition Corp NCAC was also in the red, falling 25% to $8.75 after a gain of around 12% on Wednesday.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.7% to $73.05, bringing the market to a boil, while gold traded up 0.4% at $2,014.30.
Silver cooled down, trading down 0.4% to $22.585 on Thursday, while copper fell 0.4% to $3.72, adding a touch of gloom to the market.
Euro zone
In Europe, the party continued with European shares dancing higher on Thursday. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.5%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2%, Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.3%, and the German DAX gained 0.6%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 rose 1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1%.
Construction output in the Eurozone fell by 2.2% year-over-year in November, while the current account surplus rose to EUR 31.7 billion in November, compared to a revised EUR 6.6 billion in the year-ago period. Passenger car registrations in the European Union declined by 3.3% year-over-year to 867.1 thousand units in December.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed with a mixed bag on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.03%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.75%, and China’s Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.43%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, however, fell 0.44%.
Hong Kong’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate came in unchanged at 2.9% in the three months ending December. Industrial production in Japan fell by 0.9% from a month ago in November, while Japan’s core machinery orders declined by 4.9% month-over-month in November.
Economics
Once again, in a stroke of luck for the U.S. economy, initial jobless claims plunged by 16,000 to 187,000 in the week ending January 18, surprising the market estimates of 207,000.
The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index was in the green, increasing by 2.2 points to a reading of -10.6 in January from -12.8 a month ago. Housing starts, on the other hand, fell by 4.3% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 1.46 million in December, while building permits increased by 1.9% to an annual rate of 1.495 million in the same month.
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