The Dow jumped 0.29 percent to 34,603 at the close of business on Thursday, while the NASDAQ gained 0.01 percent to 14,504.68. The S&P 500 increased 0.44 percent to 4,316.39.
The United States has the largest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, with 33,664,890 cases and 604,710 deaths reported. In India, there were at least 30,411,630 cases confirmed, with 399,470 deaths, whereas in Brazil, there were over 18,557,140 COVID-19 cases verified, with 518,060 deaths. According to data provided by Johns Hopkins University, there were at least 182,981,830 cases of COVID-19 worldwide, with more than 3,962,870 deaths.

Sectors that are leading and those that are lagging

On Thursday, energy stocks gained 1.8 percent. Meanwhile, U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SLCA) and Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE: ASPN) were among the sector’s top gainers, up 17 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Information technology stocks declined 0.1 percent in Thursday’s trading.

Headline 1:
The third quarter results of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: WBA) were better than projected.
Walgreens reported $1.38 earnings per share in the third quarter, topping the consensus expectation of $1.17. Revenue climbed 12.1 percent year over year to $34.0 billion, slightly ahead of the $33.76 billion average estimate.
WBA boosted its constant currency-adjusted EPS from continuing operations guidance for FY21 from mid-to-high single digits to roughly 10%.

Equities are rising in value.

The stock of Pop Culture Group Co., Ltd (NASDAQ: CPOP) soared 99 percent to $60.15. Pop Culture Group’s stock soared 405 percent on Wednesday after the business announced its initial public offering (IPO) at $6 per share.

TRxADE HEALTH, Inc. (NASDAQ: MEDS) saw its stock rise 63 percent to $7.19 after the company’s Bonum Health subsidiary announced a telemedicine service distribution agreement with Big Y Pharmacy.

Grid Dynamics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: GDYN) saw its stock rise 23 percent to $18.44 after the business priced 10.1 million shares in a follow-on secondary public offering at $15.03 per share.

Take a look at today’s big movers.

Trading in equities is down.
Despite receiving a favourable recommendation from the Independent Data Monitoring Committee to continue the Mino-Lok Phase 2 trial as planned, Citius Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXR) shares fell 25% to $2.61.
After the business revealed final results from its Phase 2 pilot HEPANOVA study in liver cancer, shares of NovoCure Limited (NASDAQ: NVCR) fell 15% to $187.95.
Aligos Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGS) went down 15% to $17.27 per share. Aligos Therapeutics priced a previously announced underwritten public offering of 4.4 million shares at $19 per share, a 7 percent discount from the previous day’s close of $20.3.

Commodities

Oil rose 2.1 percent to $74.98, while gold rose 0.1 percent to $1,773.80 in commodity news.

Silver declined 0.3 percent to $26.12 on Thursday, while copper fell 1.1 percent to $4.2435.

The Eurozone
Today’s European stock market close was positive. The STOXX 600 index in the eurozone increased by 0.62 percent, while the Spanish Ibex Index increased by 1.26 percent and the German DAX 30 increased by 0.47 percent. Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 in London increased by 1.25 percent, the CAC 40 in France up by 0.71 percent, and the FTSE MIB in Italy increased by 0.73 percent.
The manufacturing PMI in Italy fell to 62.2 in June from 62.3 the previous month, while the manufacturing PMI in Spain fell to 60.4 from 59.4. In May, retail sales in Germany increased by 4.2 percent.

Economics

In June, employers in the United States reported a total of 20,476 job layoffs.

In the week ending June 26th, new unemployment claims in the United States fell to 364,000.

In June, the IHS Markit manufacturing PMI was 62.1.

In June, the ISM manufacturing PMI fell to 60.6 from 61.2 in May.

In May, construction spending declined 0.3 percent to $1.545 trillion on an annual basis.

Visit Benzinga.com for the whole economic calendar (C) 2021. Benzinga does not offer financial advice. All intellectual property rights are reserved./nRead More