Crude Oil Rises 1%; US Jobless Claims Fall To 201,000

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite jumping around 300 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.67% to 38,872.01 while the NASDAQ rose 2.36% to 15,949.22. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.62% to 5,062.45.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose by 3.8% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell by 1.1%.

Top Headline

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.

Equities Trading UP

La Rosa Holdings Corp. LRHC shares shot up 137% to $3.3199 after the company disclosed that it has acquired a 100% interest in the La Rosa Realty Winter Garden franchise in Florida.

Shares of Root, Inc. ROOT got a boost, surging 46% to $12.65 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results. Following earnings, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded the stock from Neutral to Overweight and raised its price target from $9 to $13.

Monopar Therapeutics Inc. MNPR shares were also up, gaining 96% to $1.12 after the company announced preclinical data for its MNPR-101 radiopharma program targeting advanced cancers.

Equities Trading DOWN

Draganfly Inc. DPRO shares dropped 51% to $0.1753 after the company announced pricing of $3.6 million underwritten public offering.

Shares of Greenbrook TMS Inc. GBNH were down 43% to $0.2164 after the company announced a $1.2 million registered direct offering of 6 million shares at $0.20 per share purchase price.

Rivian Automotive, Inc. RIVN was down, falling 26% to $11.44 after the company reported a wider-than-expected loss for its fourth quarter and announced plans to reduce its salaried workforce by around 10% to help further improve costs. The company said it sees production of 57,000 vehicles in 2024.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.1% to $78.73 while gold traded down 0.2% at $2,030.10.

Silver traded down 0.5% to $22.77 on Thursday while copper rose 0.3% to $3.8875.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.82%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.29% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.31% The German DAX gained 1.47% French CAC 40 rose 1.27% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.06%.

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.

The S&P Global Flash manufacturing PMI climbed to 51.5 in February from 50.7 in January, while services PMI fell to 51.3 in February from 52.5.

The S&P Global composite PMI fell to 51.4 in February from 52 in the prior month.

Crude oil inventories increased by 3.514 million barrels in the week ending Feb. 16, 2024, compared to market estimates of a 3.879 million rise.

U.S. natural-gas supplies fell 60 billion cubic feet during the week ended Feb. 16, 2024.

Existing-home sales in the U.S. climbed 3.1% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 4 million units in January.

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