Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.52% to 36,217.32 while the NASDAQ fell 1.09% to 14,935.90. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.52% to 4,676.00.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 58,805,180 cases with around 853,610 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 35,109,280 cases and 482,870 deaths, while Brazil reported over 22,351,100 COVID-19 cases with 619,550 deaths. In total, there were at least 298,424,370 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,484,350 deaths.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares climbed 1.5% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Laredo Petroleum, Inc. (NYSE:LPI), up 7% and Centennial Resource Development, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDEV) up 5%.
In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary shares fell 1.1%.
Top Headline
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter on Thursday.
Walgreens reported quarterly earnings of $1.68 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.33 per share. The company’s sales came in at $33.90 billion, versus estimates of $32.74 billion.
Walgreens raised its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to low-single digit growth, from flat previously.
Equities Trading UP
Eargo, Inc. (NASDAQ:EAR) shares shot up 62% to $7.37 after the company announced the Department of Justice confirmed to it that the previously-announced criminal probe is no long active.
Shares of Vocera Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:VCRA) got a boost, shooting 27% to $79.19 after Stryker announced a definitive agreement to acquire the company.
Magenta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGTA) shares were also up, gaining 13% to $5.06. Goldman Sachs upgraded Magenta Therapeutics from Neutral to Buy and raised the price target from $7 to $8.
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
Aligos Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGS) shares tumbled 47% to $5.68 after the company announced that it has halted further development of its STOPS drug candidate, ALG-010133.
Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRIS) was down, falling 27% to $3.5150 after the company reported updated data with additional encouraging clinical activity in Phase 1/2 study of CA-4948 monotherapy in targeted patients with relapsed or refractory AML and MDS.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 1.4% to $78.97, while gold traded down 1.5% to $1,798.30.
Silver traded down 3.8% Thursday to $22.28 while copper fell 1.3% to $4.3570.
Euro zone
European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 1%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.4%. The German DAX dropped 1%, French CAC 40 declined 1.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index tumbled 1%.
Producer prices in the Eurozone increased 1.8% in November, while construction PMI fell to 52.9 in December from 53.3 a month ago. The IHS Markit/CIPS UK services PMI was revised higher to 53.6 in December from a preliminary estimate of 53.2, while composite PMI was revised higher to 53.6 in December from a preliminary level of 53.2. New car registrations in the UK fell 18.2% year-over-year to 108,596 units in December.
The IHS Markit Italy construction PMI declined to 64.4 in December from November's record high of 65.5, while French construction PMI fell to 50.9 in December from 51.6 in the prior month. German construction PMI rose to 48.2 in December from 47.9, while factory orders rose 3.7% in November.
Economics
The US trade deficit widened to $80.2 billion in November from a revised $67.2 billion deficit in October. Exports from the US rose by $0.4 billion from a month ago to $224.2 billion, while imports rose by $13.4 billion to a fresh record high of $304.4 billion.
US initial jobless claims rose by 7,000 to 207,000 in the week ending January 1st, versus a revised 200,000 in the prior period.
US factory orders increased by 1.6% from a month ago in November.
The ISM services PMI dropped to 62 in December from a record high level of 69.1 in November.
The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
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