Gold Tops $1,900 After US CPI Report, S&P 500 Rises 0.5%

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, following the release of inflation data.

The Dow traded up 0.72% to 34,219.27 while the NASDAQ rose 0.63% to 11,000.65. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.50% to 3,989.56.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares gained by 2.1% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. KLXE, up 10%, and NGL Energy Partners LP NGL, up 11%.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares fell by 0.6%.

Top Headline

The Consumer Price Index in the United States fell 0.1% month-over-month in December. The annual inflation rate slowed for a sixth consecutive month to 6.5% in December, recording the lowest level since October 2021.

Equities Trading UP

• Expion360 Inc. XPON shares shot up 118% to $3.44 after the company introduced AURA POWERCAP 600 and AURA POWERCAP 800, accessories that can transform Expion360 Li-ion batteries into a portable 600-watt or 800-watt powerpack.
• Shares of Akerna Corp. KERN got a boost, shooting 75% to $1.69 after the company announced the sale of 365 Cannabis for $2.8 million.
• BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. BBAI shares were also up, gaining 230% to $2.7750 after the company announced it has been awarded a multiple award $900 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract by the U.S. Air Force.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. ORMP shares tumbled 77% to $2.5101 after the company announced the ORA-D-013-1 trial did not meet its primary endpoint.
• Shares of KNOT Offshore Partners LP KNOP were down 38% to $6.54 after Alliance Global Partners downgraded the stock from Buy to Sell and announced a $6 price target.
• Logitech International S.A. LOGI was down, falling 17% to $56.58 after the company reported preliminary Q3 net sales results below guidance and reduced FY23 outlook.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.8% to $78.82 while gold traded up 1.2% at $1,901.30.

Silver traded up 2.3% to $24.025 on Thursday while copper rose 0.6% to $4.1915.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.63%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.89% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 1.17%. The German DAX climbed 0.74%, French CAC 40 climbed 0.74% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.73%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Thursday, with the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.36%, and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.05%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.01%.

India's industrial production surged 7.1% from a year ago in November, while annual consumer price inflation in India eased to 5.72% in December. Auto sales in China dropped by 8.4% year-over-year to 2.56 million units December. China's annual inflation rate increased to 1.8% in December, while producer prices declined 0.7% year-over-year in December.

The gauge for Japan's service sector sentiment declined by 0.2 points from the previous month to 47.9 in December. Japan reported a current account surplus of JPY 1,803.6 billion in November.

Economics

• The Consumer Price Index in the United States fell 0.1% month-over-month in December. The annual inflation rate slowed for a sixth consecutive month to 6.5% in December, recording the lowest level since October 2021.
• US initial jobless claims declined by 1,000 to 205,000 in the week ending January 7th, compared to market expectations of 215,000
• US natural-gas supplies climbed 11 billion cubic feet last week, the EIA said.

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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 103,308,870 cases with around 1,123,460 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,681,690 cases and 530,720 deaths, while France reported over 39,428,770 COVID-19 cases with 163,190 deaths. In total, there were at least 670,107,660 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,722,290 deaths.