Dow Rises 80 Points; US Jobless Claims Edge Higher

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones gaining around 80 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.24% to 33,630.52 while the NASDAQ rose 0.12% to 13,108.31. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.25% to 4,285.08.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares rose by 0.9% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell by 0.6%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 204,000 in the week ending Sept. 23, versus market expectations of 215,000.

Equities Trading UP

Bionomics Limited BNOX shares shot up 340% to $4.32 after the company announced the ATTUNE trial met its primary endpoint showing BNC210 treatment led to a statistically significant reduction in total PTSD symptom severity at 12 weeks.

Shares of Baudax Bio, Inc. BXRX got a boost, shooting 93% to $0.5798 after the company announced it was granted orphan drug designation by the FDA for TI-168 for the treatment of Hemophilia A with inhibitors.

Chico's FAS, Inc. CHS shares were also up, gaining 62% to $7.47 following the announcement of its acquisition by Sycamore Partners for $1 billion.

Equities Trading DOWN

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. ASTI shares dropped 62% to $2.0705 after the company announced pricing of a public offering of units.

Shares of Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. BCLI were down 52% to $0.19 after the company announced the FDA Advisory Committee voted that NurOwn did not demonstrate substantial evidence of effectiveness for treatment of mild to moderate ALS.

Renalytix Plc RNLX was down, falling 31% to $1.36 after the company announced weak FY sales.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.7% to $93.02 while gold traded down 0.1% at $1,890.20.

Silver traded up 0.1% to $22.75 on Thursday while copper rose 1.3% to $3.6820.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.1% London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.6% The German DAX rose 0.1% French CAC 40 rose 0.2%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.2%.

The industry confidence indicator in the Eurozone improved to -9.0 in September from -9.9 in the prior month, while economic sentiment indicator fell to 93.3 in September from a revised reading of 93.6 a month ago. The consumer confidence indicator was confirmed at -17.8 for September.

Spain's retail trade increased by 7.2% year-over-year for August, while annual inflation rate increased for the third consecutive month to 3.5% in September.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 1.54%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 1.36% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.10%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, fell 0.9%.

India’s current account deficit shrank to $9.2 billion in the second quarter from $17.9 billion in the year-ago period, while retail sales in Australia rose by 0.2% month-over-month in August.

Economics

U.S. jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 204,000 in the week ending Sept. 23, versus market expectations of 215,000.

The U.S. economy expanded at an annualized rate of 2.1% during the second quarter, unchanged versus the prior estimate, and versus revised 2.2% expansion in the first quarter.

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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 108,670,700 cases with around 1,176,590 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,998,650 cases and 531,930 deaths, while France reported over 40,138,560 COVID-19 cases with 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 695,871,940 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,920,660 deaths.