Leading and Lagging Sectors
In trading on Thursday, materials shares fell 0.8%.
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 55% to $7.05 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 $79.21 after Stryker announced a definitive agreement to acquire the company.
Alterity Therapeutics Limited (NASDAQ:ATHE) shares were also up, gaining 30% to $1.0799 after the company announced it was granted a new US patent for "Compounds for and Methods of Treating Diseases."
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
Aligos Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGS) shares tumbled 54% to $4.87 after the company announced that it has halted further development of its STOPS drug candidate, ALG-010133.
CNS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNSP) was down, falling 28% to $0.7526 after the company reported a $11.5 million private placement priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 2.7% to $79.96, while gold traded down 2% to $1,789.10.
Silver traded down 4.4% Thursday to $22.16 while copper fell 1.6% to $4.3430.
Euro zone
European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 1.25%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.88%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.01%. The German DAX dropped 1.35%, French CAC 40 declined 1.72% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index tumbled 1.80%.
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.
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