Nasdaq Surges 1%; ConAgra Brands Posts Upbeat Earnings

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 150 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.49% to 39,319.03 while the NASDAQ rose 1% to 16,4340. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.75% to 5,250.72.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares jumped by 1.1% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, health care shares rose by just 0.01%.

Top Headline

ConAgra Brands Inc CAG reported better-than-expected third-quarter financial results.

ConAgra reported a third-quarter FY24 sales decline of 1.7% year-on-year to $3.03 billion, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. Adjusted EPS of 69 cents beat the consensus estimate of 65 cents.

ConAgra reaffirmed its outlook for FY24 Organic net sales to decrease between 1.0% and 2.0% compared to fiscal 2023.

Equities Trading UP

TC Biopharm (Holdings) Plc TCBP shares shot up 76% to $2.2850. TCBP announced execution of non-binding letter of intent for acquisition of NK Platform Technologies.

Shares of Allurion Technologies Inc. ALUR got a boost, surging 116% to $3.73 after the company announced the commercial availability of its Virtual Care Suite in the United States. Also, Chardan Capital initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and announced a $5 price target.

Candel Therapeutics, Inc. CADL shares were also up, gaining 39% to $2.3383 after the company announced interim data from the randomized phase 2 clinical trial of CAN-2409 in non-metastatic prostate cancer.

Equities Trading DOWN

eFFECTOR Therapeutics, Inc. EFTR shares dropped 76% to $3.9778. The company announced topline results from the primary analysis of the randomized Phase 2 KICKSTART trial of tomivosertib combined with pembrolizumab in non-small cell lung cancer.

Shares of Achilles Therapeutics plc ACHL were down 27% to $0.8706 after the company reported fourth-quarter financial results. The company announced interim Phase I/IIa data on the use of clonal neoantigen reactive T cells from the CHIRON study in advanced unresectable or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer and the THETIS study in recurrent or metastatic malignant melanoma.

KWESST Micro Systems Inc. KWE was down, falling 17% to $0.9385 after the company announced a proposed US public offering.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $85.27 while gold traded up 0.4% at $ 2,317.30.

Silver traded up 0.5% to $27.185 on Thursday, while copper rose 1% to $4.2365.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.22%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.49% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.52% The German DAX rose 0.23% French CAC 40 rose 0.07% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.01%.

Industrial producer prices in the eurozone fell by 1.0% from the prior month in February compared to a 0.9% decline in the prior month, while services PMI climbed to 51.5 in March versus 50.2 in the earlier month.

The HCOB France services PMI fell to 48.3 in March versus 48.4 a month ago, while German services PMI rose to 50.1 in March versus a preliminary reading of 49.8. The S&P Global UK services PMI fell to 53.1 in March versus 53.8 in the prior month.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.81% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex rising 0.5%.

The HSBC Indian services PMI rose to 61.2 in March versus a preliminary reading of 60.3 and compared to a final reading of 60.6 in the prior month.

Economics

U.S. jobless claims rose by 11,000 from the previous week’s revised reading to 221,000 on March, the most in two months.

U.S. trade deficit increased to $68.9 billion in February versus a revised $67.6 billion gap in the previous month.

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