Crude Oil Gains Over 2%; US Foods Posts Downbeat Earnings

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

The Dow traded up 1.50% to 41,729.20 while the NASDAQ gained 1.91% to 18,076.43. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.44% to 5,712.61.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose by 1.2% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, health care stocks fell by 0.9%.

Top Headline

US Foods Holding Corp. USFD reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the first quarter on Thursday.

The company posted quarterly earnings of 68 cents per share which missed the analyst consensus estimate of 69 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $9.35 billion which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $9.38 billion.

Equities Trading UP

SunOpta Inc STKL shares shot up 30% to $5.91 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and raised its FY25 sales guidance above estimates. Additionally, the company announced a $25 million share repurchase program.
Shares of Sezzle Inc SEZL got a boost, surging 44% to $76.07 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and raised its FY25 guidance.
Solidion Technology Inc. STI shares were also up, gaining 37% to $0.13 after the company presented its patented technology for transforming lithium-ion facilities into battery producers.

Equities Trading DOWN

Today's Best Finance Deals

argenx SE – ADR ARGX shares dropped 15% to $531.86 following first-quarter results.
Shares of Vor Biopharma Inc. VOR were down 68% to $0.1725 after the company announced exploration of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value.
ADMA Biologics Inc ADMA was down, falling 19% to $19.09 following downbeat quarterly results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.4% to $59.48 while gold traded down 1% at $3,357.70.

Silver traded up 0.1% to $32.825 on Thursday, while copper fell 0.5% to $4.6385.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.37%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.13%. London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.30%, Germany's DAX 40 rose 0.77% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.84% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei gaining 0.41%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.37%, China's Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.28% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.51%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 13,000 to 228,000 in the week ending May 3, compared to market estimates of 230,000.
U.S. labor productivity in the nonfarm business sector declined by 0.8% during the first quarter compared to estimates of a 0.7% drop.
U.S. unit labor costs increased by 5.7% in the first quarter of compared to market estimates of a 5.1% gain.

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