US Stocks Mixed; Jobless Claims Fall To 202,000

U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 50 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.15% to 37,487.49 while the NASDAQ fell 0.27% to 14,553.12. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.01% to 4,704.42.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose by 0.7% on Thursday.

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

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 18,000 to 202,000 in the final week of 2023, compared to market estimates of 216,000.

Equities Trading UP

Minim, Inc. MINM shares shot up 186% to $4.88.

Shares of Omega Therapeutics, Inc. OMGA got a boost, surging 108% to $5.67 after Novo Nordisk entered into a research collaboration with the company.

Avenue Therapeutics, Inc. ATXI shares were also up, gaining 48% to $0.2598 after the company announced it reached a final agreement with the FDA for the Phase 3 safety study for IV tramadol.

Equities Trading DOWN

SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc. SLS shares dropped 33% to $0.6097 after the company announced pricing of $9.0 million public offering.

Shares of Mobileye Global Inc. MBLY were down 26% to $29.40 after the company issued preliminary FY23 financial results and initial 2024 guidance.

E-Home Household Service Holdings Limited EJH was down, falling 28% to $1.07.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.7% to $73.17 while gold traded up 0.2% at $2,046.30.

Silver traded down 0.6% to $23.02 on Thursday while copper fell 0.8% to $3.83.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.7% The German DAX fell 0.1% French CAC 40 rose 0.1% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.3%.

The HCOB Eurozone services PMI was revised higher to 48.8 in December versus a preliminary reading of 48.1. The HCOB France services PMI climbed to 45.7 in December, recording the highest reading in four months, while German services PMI rose to 49.3 in December versus a preliminary estimate of 48.4.

The S&P Global/CIPS UK services PMI increased to 53.4 in December from 50.9 in the prior month. Consumer credit in the UK rose by £2.005 billion in November versus a revised £1.3411 billion in the previous month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.53%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 0.01% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.43%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.67%.

The Caixin China General Service PMI rose to 52.9 in December from 51.5 a month ago, while S&P Global Hong Kong SAR PMI climbed to 51.3 in December versus 50.1 in November. The au Jibun Bank Japan Manufacturing PMI rose to 47.9 in December versus a flash reading of 47.7.

Economics

U.S.-based employers announced plans to reduce 34,817 jobs in December.

Private businesses in the U.S. added 164,000 workers in December versus a revised 101,000 gain in November and topping market estimates of 115,000.

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 18,000 to 202,000 in the final week of 2023, compared to market estimates of 216,000.

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