Nasdaq Surges 300 Points; NVIDIA Posts Strong Results

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite jumping around 300 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.63% to 38,857.02 while the NASDAQ rose 1.95% to 15,884.67. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.20% to 5,041.45.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose by 3.1% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell by 0.8%.

Top Headline

NVIDIA Corporation NVDA reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and issued strong revenue guidance for the first quarter.

The company reported revenue of $22.10 billion, beating a Street estimate of $20.62 billion. Revenue in the fourth quarter was up 265% year-over-year. Nvidia reported fourth-quarter non-GAAP earnings per share of $5.16, which came in ahead of a Street consensus estimate of $4.64 according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Equities Trading UP

La Rosa Holdings Corp. LRHC shares shot up 186% to $4.00 after the company said it has acquired a 100% interest in the Company's franchisee - La Rosa Realty Winter Garden LLC located in Winter Garden, Florida.

Shares of BuzzFeed, Inc. BZFD got a boost, surging 78% to $0.3901 after the company revealed the sale of Complex Networks to NTWRK, a live-streaming video commerce platform. The deal, valued at $108.6 million, will also result in a 16% reduction in BuzzFeed’s workforce.

Venus Concept Inc. VERO shares were also up, gaining 45% to $1.8606 after the company received CE Mark from DEKRA Certification B.V. to market Venus Versa Pro in Europe.

Equities Trading DOWN

Draganfly Inc. DPRO shares dropped 46% to $0.1951 after the company announced pricing of $3.6 million underwritten public offering.

Shares of Greenbrook TMS Inc. GBNH were down 42% to $0.2201 after the company announced a $1.2 million registered direct offering of 6 million shares at $0.20 per share purchase price.

Bel Fuse Inc. BELFA was down, falling 23% to $57.00 after the company reported weak fourth-quarter financial results.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $77.94 while gold traded up 0.2% at $2,038.10.

Silver traded up 0.9% to $23.09 on Thursday while copper fell 0.1% to $3.8740.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.8%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.5% The German DAX gained 1.4% French CAC 40 rose 1% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.2%.

The inflation rate in the Eurozone eased to 2.8% in January from 2.9% in December. The HCOB Eurozone manufacturing PMI fell to 46.1 in February from 46.6 in January, while services PMI rose to 50 in February. The HCOB France composite PMI rose to 47.7 in February from 44.6 in the earlier month, while German composite PMI fell to 46.1 in February from 47.0 in the prior month.

The S&P Global UK services PMI came in steady at 54.3 in February, while manufacturing PMI rose to 47.1 in February from 47 in January.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 surging 2.19%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 1.45%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 1.27% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex jumping 0.74%.

The annual inflation rate in Hong Kong eased to 1.7% in January from 2.4% in the prior month. The HSBC India composite PMI rose to 61.5 in February from a final reading of 61.2 in the earlier month. The au Jibun Bank Japan composite PMI declined to 50.3 in February versus a final reading of 51.5 in January.

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index fell to -0.30 in January versus a revised reading of 0.02 in the previous month.

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 12,000 to 201,000 in the week ending Feb. 17, compared to market estimates of 218,000.

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