U.S. stocks experienced mixed movements at the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite shifting lower on Thursday.
The Dow traded up 0.25% to 37,900.45 while the NASDAQ fell 0.13% to 15,462.53. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.19% to 4,877.88.
Industry Performance
Energy shares exhibited a 1.7% rise on Thursday.
Conversely, consumer discretionary shares fell by 1.5% in trading on Thursday.
Breaking News
American Airlines Group Inc AAL reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
Despite a 75% drop in adjusted earnings to 29 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2023, American Airlines’ performance surpassed the consensus estimate of 10 cents per share. Total revenue decreased by 1% to $13.06 billion, slightly exceeding estimates of $13.02 billion.
American Airlines anticipates its full-year 2024 adjusted earnings per diluted share to range between $2.25 and $3.25, surpassing the consensus of $2.25.
Rising Stocks
Vera Therapeutics, Inc. VERA witnessed a 53% surge to $25.97 following the announcement of 72-week data from the OLE period of its Phase 2b ORIGIN clinical trial. Additionally, Oppenheimer commenced coverage on the stock with an Outperform rating and a proclaimed $26 price target.
Shares of Processa Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PCSA rose by 88% to $3.8520 after the company disclosed the completion of the safety tolerability evaluation in its Phase 1b trial of Next Generation Capecitabine.
American Superconductor Corporation AMSC also demonstrated an increase, gaining 31% to $12.75 after the company unveiled better-than-expected third-quarter financial results and issued fourth-quarter revenue guidance exceeding estimates.
Falling Stocks
RedHill Biopharma Ltd. RDHL experienced a 46% decline to $0.5864 after the company announced an $8 million registered direct offering.
Shares of MarineMax, Inc. HZO dropped by 19% to $26.81 after the company reported worse-than-expected first-quarter adjusted EPS results and issued FY24 adjusted EPS guidance below estimates.
Columbia Banking System, Inc. COLB also declined, falling by 22% to $20.06 after the company reported worse-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.
Commodity Market
In the commodity market, oil rose by 2.7% to $77.09 while gold experienced a 0.1% increase, reaching $2,018.20.
Silver observed a 0.1% rise, reaching $22.915 on Thursday, while copper fell by 0.6% to $3.8635.
Euro Zone Update
European shares mostly trended higher on this particular day. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 witnessed a 0.30% rise. The FTSE 100 in London experienced a 0.03% increase, whereas Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell by 0.58%. The German DAX and the French CAC 40 rose by 0.10% and 0.11%, respectively, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined by 0.60%.
Germany’s Ifo Business Climate indicator declined to 85.2 in January, compared to a revised reading of 86.3 in the previous month. Similarly, producer prices in Spain dropped by 6.3% year-over-year in December, and France’s manufacturing climate indicator remained unchanged at 99 for January.
Asia Pacific Markets Update
Asian markets concluded on a mostly positive note on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 experiencing a slight gain of 0.03%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbing 1.96%, and China’s Shanghai Composite Index rising by 3.03%. Conversely, India’s S&P BSE Sensex fell by 0.51%.
Imports to Hong Kong surged by 11.6% year-over-year to $446.3 billion in December, while exports from Hong Kong rose by 11% year-over-year to $386.4 billion.
Economic Development
The US economy grew an annualized 3.3% in the fourth quarter, surpassing market estimates of a 2% rise, yet lower than the 4.9% rate in the prior quarter.
U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 25,000 to 214,000 in the week ending Jan. 20, 2024.
The US trade deficit in goods narrowed to $88.5 billion in December versus a revised $89.3 billion in the prior month. Additional indexes such as the Chicago Fed National Activity Index and wholesale inventories in the U.S. also experienced fluctuations in December.
The US natural-gas supplies reported a substantial fall of 326 billion cubic during the week ended Jan. 19, 2024, according to the EIA.
