US Stocks Mixed; Initial Jobless Claims Fall

U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 100 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.24% to 44,564.14 while the NASDAQ declined 0.44% to 20,520.54. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.09% to 6,257.81.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares jumped by 0.9% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, communication services stocks dipped by 1.2%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 5,000 from the previous week to 227,000 in the first week of July, compared to market estimates of 235,000.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Above Food Ingredients Inc. (NASDAQ:ABVE) shares shot up 330% to $1.53 on continued strength following its merger agreement with Palm Global on Monday.
• Shares of DallasNews Corporation (NASDAQ:DALN) got a boost, surging 218% to $13.55 after the company announced Hearst will acquire it for $14 per share.
• BIT Mining Limited (NASDAQ:BTCM) shares were also up, gaining 117% to $5.34 after the company announced it plans an investment up to $300 million to expand into the Solana ecosystem.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Mereo BioPharma Group plc (NASDAQ:MREO) shares dropped 35% to $1.9150. Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical and Mereo BioPharma on Wednesday announced that the randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 3 portion of the Orbit study evaluating UX143 (setrusumab) in pediatric and young adult patients with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is progressing toward a final analysis around the end of the year, consistent with the original plan.
• Shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:RARE) were down 27% to $30.11. Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical and Mereo BioPharma on Wednesday announced that the randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 3 portion of the Orbit study evaluating UX143 (setrusumab) in pediatric and young adult patients with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is progressing toward a final analysis around the end of the year, consistent with the original plan.
• CURRENC Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CURR) was down, falling 27% to $1.48 as the company announced the pricing of $60 million underwritten public offering at a price of $5/share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.8% to $67.14 while gold traded up 0.1% at $3,322.90.

Silver traded up 0.8% to $36.930 on Thursday, while copper rose 1.8% to $5.5885.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.5%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.6%. London's FTSE 100 gained 1.1%, Germany's DAX 40 slipped 0.3% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.3% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei falling 0.44%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gaining 0.57%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.48% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.41%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 5,000 from the previous week to 227,000 in the first week of July, compared to market estimates of 235,000.

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