U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the S&P 500 gaining around 1% on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.69% to 39,031.86 while the NASDAQ rose 1.33% to 16,411.69. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.07% to 5,255.11.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed by 1.6% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell by 0.2%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 17,000 to 230,000 in the week ending August 3, compared to market estimates of 240,000.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Conduit Pharmaceuticals Inc.  (NASDAQ:CDT) shares shot up 100% to $0.3304 after the company announced it entered into an exclusive license agreement with AstraZeneca to develop AZD1656 and AZD5658.
• Shares of Comstock Inc. (NASDAQ:LODE) got a boost, surging 30% to $0.1949 after the company announced the execution of an indicative term sheet for $325 million in funding through SBC Commerce LLC.
• GSE Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:GVP) shares were also up, gaining 45% to $3.97 after the company announced it will be acquired by Pelican Energy Partners for $4.10 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $75.30 while gold traded up 0.7% at $2,448.90.

Silver traded up 0.7% to $27.135 on Thursday, while copper rose 0.1% to $3.9555.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.2%, Germany's DAX rose 0.1% and France's CAC 40 fell 0.4%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.4%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.6%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.74%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.08%, China's Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.002% and S&P BSE Sensex falling 0.73%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 17,000 to 230,000 in the week ending August 3, compared to market estimates of 240,000.

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