U.S. Stocks Turn Higher, Dow Surges More Than 200 Points

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones gaining more than 200 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.67% to 32,412.36 while the NASDAQ rose 0.39% to 12,079.66. The S&P also rose, gaining, 0.59% to 4,047.22.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares rose 2.9% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Equinix, Inc. EQIX, up 8% and Transcontinental Realty Investors, Inc. TCI up 6%.

In trading on Thursday, communication services shares fell 1.5%.

Top Headline

The US economy shrank an annualized 0.9% on quarter during the second quarter, compared to a 1.6% decline in the first quarter.

Equities Trading UP

JAKKS Pacific, Inc. JAKK shares shot up 35% to $23.00 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results.

Shares of ToughBuilt Industries, Inc. TBLT got a boost, shooting 32% to $6.05 after the company entered into an agreement with Ace Hardware USA to sell 35 products across 5,500 stores.

SKYX Platforms Corp. SKYX shares were also up, gaining 30% to $5.40. Benchmark initiated coverage on SKYX Platforms with a Buy rating and announced a price target of $15.

Equities Trading DOWN

Bausch Health Companies Inc. BHC shares tumbled 50% to $4.3166 following reports of an order on a patent litigation over Xifaxan.

Shares of Community Health Systems, Inc. CYH were down 38% to $3.2350 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 results. The company also guided 2022 EPS of $(2.55)-$(1.65).

Pathward Financial, Inc. CASH was down, falling 26% to $ 31.78 after the company reported Q3 results. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Pathward Financial from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered the price target from $67 to $45.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.5% to $97.74, while gold traded up 1.9% to $1,751.10.

Silver traded up 6.5% to $19.80 on Thursday while copper rose 1.5% to $3.4825.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.85%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.17% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.57%. The German DAX gained 0.65%, French CAC 40 rose 1.01% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.69%.

Producer prices in France surged 1.3% month-over-month in June following a 0.3% decline in May. Retail sales in Spain rose 1% year-over-year in June, while unemployment rate dropped to 12.48% in the quarter ending June from 13.65% in the prior three-month period. UK car production rose 5.6% year-over-year to 72,946 units in June.

Economics

The US economy shrank an annualized 0.9% on quarter during the second quarter, compared to a 1.6% decline in the first quarter.

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 256,000 the week ended July 23rd, compared to market estimates of 253,000.

U.S. natural gas supplies climbed 15 billion cubic feet last week, the Energy Information Administration said.

The Kansas City Fed’s Manufacturing Production Index rose to 7 in July from -1 in the previous month.

The Treasury will auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 92,761,860 cases with around 1,053,960 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 43,959,320 cases and 526,210 deaths, while Brazil reported over 33,707,060 COVID-19 cases with 677,870 deaths. In total, there were at least 578,844,500 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,412,460 deaths.