Dow Surges Over 150 Points; Initial Jobless Claims Drop Last Week

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining more than 150 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.57% to 30,595.97 while the NASDAQ rose 0.52% to 10,735.61. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.26% to 3,704.67.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares climbed 0.9% on Thursday. Leading the sector was strength from AT&T Inc. T and Skillz Inc. SKLZ.

In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary shares dipped 1.2%.

Top Headline

US initial jobless claims declined by 12,000 to 214,000 in the week ending October 15th, compared to market estimates of 230,000.

Equities Trading UP

• Super Micro Computer, Inc. SMCI shares shot up 16% to $64.23 after the company raised Q1 net sales guidance and adjusted EPS guidance above estimates.
• Shares of Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated DBD got a boost, shooting 13% to $3.0250 after the company announced entry into an agreement with key financial stakeholders to support debt refinancing to address certain near-term maturities and provide $400 million in additional financing.
• Telos Corporation TLS shares were also up, gaining 14% to $9.52. Needham maintained Telos with a Buy and raised the price target from $10 to $13.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Talaris Therapeutics, Inc. TALS shares tumbled 48% to $1.26 after the company announced it received a report of a patient death, which triggered a pre-specified, temporary stopping requirement and review by the FREEDOM-1 Data Monitoring Committee.
• Shares of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson ERIC were down 17% to $5.34 after the company reported mixed Q3 earnings results.
• Amprius Technologies, Inc. AMPX was down, falling 14% to $9.52. Amprius Technologies recently announced it was awarded a $50 million cost-sharing grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.9% to $87.17, while gold traded up 0.1% at $1,636.10.

Silver traded up 0.7% to $18.495 on Thursday while copper rose 2.5% to $3.4020.

Euro zone

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

The Eurozone recorded a current account deficit of EUR 20.21 billion in August versus a year-ago surplus of EUR 21.05 billion. Producer prices in Germany rose by 2.3% from a month ago in September, versus a 7.9% increase in the prior month, while annual producer inflation in the country stood at 45.8% in September.

The manufacturing climate indicator in France climbed to 103 in October from a 1-1/2-year low level of 102 in the previous month. Construction output in Italy surged 9.7% year-over-year in August versus a revised 7% increase in the prior month.

Economics

• US initial jobless claims declined by 12,000 to 214,000 in the week ending October 15th, compared to market estimates of 230,000.
• The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index rose 1 point to a reading of negative at -8.7 in October.
• Data on existing home sales for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Analysts expect existing home sales contracting to a 4.695 million annualized rate in September from 4.800 million in the previous month.
• The index of leading economic indicators for September is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. Analysts expect the index declining 0.3% month-over-month in September.
• 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.
• Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker is set to speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve Governor Philip Jefferson will speak at 1:30 p.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is set to speak at 1:45 p.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman will speak at 2:05 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 98,987,010 cases with around 1,092,030 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,636,510 cases and 528,940 deaths, while France reported over 36,418,720 COVID-19 cases with 156,180 deaths. In total, there were at least 631,630,250 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,577,340 deaths.