Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; US Jobless Claims Drop Below 800,000

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.02% to 30,415.29 while the NASDAQ fell 0.17% to 12,848.26. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.03% to 3,733.03.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 19,745,880 cases with around 342,410 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 10,266,670 confirmed cases and 148,730 deaths, while Brazil reported over 7,619,200 COVID-19 cases with 193,870 deaths. In total, there were at least 82,843,750 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,807,860 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares climbed 0.7% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), up 13%, and Tribune Publishing Company (NASDAQ: TPCO), up 9%.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 0.8%.

Top Headline

US jobless claims fell to 787,000 in the week ended December 26, versus 803,000 in the prior week. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 833,000 for the week.

Equities Trading UP

Ashford Inc. (NASDAQ: AINC) shares shot up 64% to $9.66 as CEO, COO and other officers reported grants of shares in form 4 filings on Wednesday.

Shares of AeroCentury Corp. (NYSE: ACY) got a boost, shooting 47% to $10.06 after dropping 26% on Wednesday.

China Green Agriculture, Inc. (NYSE: CGA) shares were also up, gaining 40% to $4.22 after climbing over 21% on Wednesday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Professional Diversity Network, Inc. (NASDAQ: IPDN) shares tumbled 19% to $2.21. Professional Diversity Networks, on Wednesday, announced a partnership with Phala Network to develop a privacy protecting blockchain application.

Shares of Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) were down 16% to $13.68. Net Element shares gained over 44% on Wednesday after the company's merger partner, Mullen Technologies, received a letter of intent for a purchase order of 1,500 MX-05 electric vehicles..

Orbital Energy Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: OEG) was down, falling 14% to $2.02 after the company priced its 5.555 million share offering at $1.80 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.1% to $47.86, while gold traded up 0.2% to $1,897.50.

Silver traded up 0.2% Thursday to $26.615 while copper fell 0.9% to $3.5190.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.5%. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 slipped 0.3% and London’s FTSE 100 dropped 1.5%

Economics

US jobless claims fell to 787,000 in the week ended December 26, versus 803,000 in the prior week. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 833,000 for the week.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

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