U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite adding around 100 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.04% to 33,495.25 while the NASDAQ rose 0.83% to 12,096.14. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.37% to 4,105.67.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Communication services shares rose by 2% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Skillz Inc. (NYSE:SKLZ), up 26%, and AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AMC), up 23%.
• In trading on Thursday, energy fell by 0.9%.

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U.S. natural-gas supplies dropped 23 billion cubic feet last week, the EIA said.

Equities Trading UP

Equities Trading DOWN

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.1% to $80.55 while gold traded down 0.5% at $2,026.30.

Silver traded up 0.3% to $25.11 on Thursday while copper rose 0.9% to $4.0235.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.50%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.03% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.62%. The German DAX rose 0.45%, French CAC 40 rose 0.12% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.29%.

The S&P Global Eurozone construction PMI fell to 45.0 in March from 47.6 the previous month, while French construction PMI rose to 45.3 in March from 45.2 a month ago. The S&P Global/CIPS UK construction PMI fell to 50.7 in March from 54.6 in the prior month, while Italian construction PMI dropped to 47.4 in March from 48.9 a month ago. The S&P Global German construction PMI slipped to 42.9 in March from February’s reading of 48.6.

The Halifax house price index increased by 1.6% from a year ago in March, while industrial production in Germany rose 2% month-over-month in February.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 1.22%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.28% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index adding 0.01%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.12%.

The Reserve Bank of India unexpectedly held its benchmark policy repo at 6.5% at its April meeting. The Caixin China general services PMI rose to 57.8 in March from 55.0 in the previous month, while S&P Global Hong Kong PMI fell to 53.5 in March. Australian trade surplus widened to AUD 13.87 billion in February from a revised AUD 11.27 billion in the previous month.

Economics

• U.S. jobless claims dropped by 18 thousand to 228 thousand in the week ending April 1.
• U.S. natural-gas supplies dropped 23 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 106,305,770 cases with around 1,156,300 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,739,050 cases and 530,920 deaths, while France reported over 39,817,650 COVID-19 cases with 165,790 deaths. In total, there were at least 684,466,450 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,834,980 deaths.