Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; American Airlines Posts Narrower-Than-Expected Loss

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.92% to 35,352.17 while the NASDAQ rose 1.61% to 14,570.49. The S&P also rose, gaining, 1.06% to 4,581.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 69,808,350 cases with around 880,970 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 38,218,770 cases and 487,710 deaths, while Brazil reported over 23,420,860 COVID-19 cases with 621,920 deaths. In total, there were at least 339,709,660 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,584,780 deaths.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares gained 1.6% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ipsidy Inc. AUID, up 13% and Opera Limited OPRA up 12%.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell by 0.1%.

Top Headline

American Airlines Group Inc. AAL reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its fourth quarter.

American Airlines posted quarterly loss of $1.42 per share, beating analysts’ estimates for a loss of $1.47 per share. The company’s quarterly revenue came in at $9.40 billion, versus expectations of $9.37 billion.

Equities Trading UP

DatChat, Inc. DATS shares shot up 30% to $3.8999 after the company signed a Letter of Intent to acquire Avila Security Corporation.

Shares of Vertical Aerospace Ltd. EVTL got a boost, shooting 25% to $9.20. Barclays, on Tuesday, initiated coverage on the stock with an Underweight rating and a $7 price target.

Full Truck Alliance Co. Ltd. YMM shares were also up, gaining 17% to $9.70.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

China Finance Online Co. Limited JRJC shares tumbled 38% to $4.0180 after the company announced it has received a notice of delisting from Nasdaq.

Shares of G Medical Innovations Holdings Ltd GMVD were down 25% to $4.62 after jumping 45% on Wednesday. EH Hutton, on Tuesday, initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a $6 price target.

Valneva SE VALN was down, falling 20% to $37.62. Valneva shares jumped 45% on Wednesday after results from an initial laboratory study demonstrated that serum antibodies induced by three doses of Valneva's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001, neutralize the omicron variant.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $86.67, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,838.80.

Silver traded down 0.1% Thursday to $24.215 while copper rose 0.9% to $4.5115.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.2%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.4%. The German DAX gained 0.3%, French CAC 40 fell 0.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.4%.

Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone rose to a record high of 5% in December from 4.9% in November, while Producer inflation in Germany accelerated to a fresh all-time high of 24.2% in December from 19.2% in November.

Spain's trade deficit widened to €4.2 billion in November from €0.6 billion in the year-ago month, construction output in Italy climbed 13.2% year-over-year in November from a revised 14.6% growth in the prior month. The manufacturing climate indicator in France surged to 112 in January from 110 in December.

Economics

US initial jobless claims increased by 55 thousand to 286 thousand in the week ending January 15th.

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index rose to 23.2 in January versus a one-year low of 15.4 in December.

Existing home sales in the US dropped 4.6% to an annual rate of 6.18 million in December.

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 EIA’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here