U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 100 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.27% to 40,998.86 while the NASDAQ rose 0.44% to 17,997.28. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.36% to 5,641.14.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed by 0.7% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary shares fell by 0.1%.

Top Headline

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) reported better-than-expected second-quarter financial results.

Revenue growth of 4.9% Y/Y to $5.205 billion, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $5.145 billion. Total comparable club sales increased by 3.1%. Comparable club sales, excluding gasoline sales, increased by 2.4%.

Adjusted EPS of $1.09 beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.00.

Equities Trading UP
                       

Equities Trading DOWN

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $72.11 while gold traded down 0.8% at $2,528.10.

Silver traded down 0.1% to $29.51 on Thursday, while copper fell 0.6% to $4.1650.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.6%, Germany's DAX rose 0.4% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.4%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.7%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.1%.

The S&P Global UK composite PMI climbed to 53.4 in August, notching the highest level since April. The HCOB Eurozone composite PMI surged to 51.2 in August from 50.2 a month ago.

The HCOB France composite PMI rose to 52.7 in August from 49.1 in the previous month, while Germany composite PMI fell to 48.5 in August from July’s reading of 49.1.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.68%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 1.44%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.27% and India's BSE Sensex rising 0.18%.

The HSBC India Composite PMI slipped to 60.5 in August versus 60.7 in the previous month, while Japan composite PMI climbed to 53.0 in August from 52.5 a month ago.

Economics

• The Chicago Fed National Activity Index declined to -0.34 in July versus a revised reading of -0.09 in June.
• U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 4,000 from the prior week to 232,000 in the week ending August 17th, compared to market expectations of 230,000.

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