Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.36% to 34,445.97 while the NASDAQ rose 0.14% to 13,757.62. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.27% to 4,207.27.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,191,140 cases with around 591,950 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 27,369,090 cases and 315,230 deaths, while Brazil reported over 16,274,690 COVID-19 cases with 454,420 deaths. In total, there were at least 168,450,710 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,499,710 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Industrial shares climbed 1.1% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Titan Machinery Inc. (NASDAQ: TITN), up 17%, and Aqua Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AQMS), up 10%.
In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 0.4%.
Top Headline
Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Thursday.
Dollar Tree posted quarterly earnings of $1.60 per share, exceeding market estimates of $1.40 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $6.48 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $6.41 billion.
Dollar Tree said it sees FY21 earnings of $5.80 to $6.05 per share.
Equities Trading UP
Tellurian Inc. (NASDAQ: TELL) shares shot up 27% to $4.0388 after the company, and Gunvor, announced they signed a 10-year LNG agreement for 3 million tonnes per annum.
Shares of Rezolute, Inc. (NASDAQ: RZLT) got a boost, shooting 47% to $11.31 after Oppenheimer initiated coverage on the stock with an Outperform rating and a $25 price target.
Vertex Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: VTNR) shares were also up, gaining 116% to $3.85 after the company announced it will acquire a Alabama refinery and related logistics assets for $75 million.
Check out these big movers of the day
Equities Trading DOWN
EZGO Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: EZGO) shares tumbled 17% to $4.6855 after the company reported pricing of upsized $12 million registered direct offering of 2.564 million shares.
Shares of Anaplan, Inc. (NYSE: PLAN) were down 12% to $50.22 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 earnings. The company also announced CFO David H. Morton, Jr will depart the company later this year.
NextGen Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXGN) was down, falling 13% to $16.33. NextGen Healthcare posted upbeat Q4 results, but issued weak earnings forecast for FY22.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $66.30, while gold traded down 0.5% to $1,892.50.
Silver traded down 0.4% Thursday to $27.77 while copper rose 2.6% to $4.6485.
Euro zone
European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.47%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.34% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.1%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.02%, French CAC 40 rose 0.92% and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 1.23%.
Italy’s consumer confidence index surged to 110.6 in May from 102.3 in the prior month, while manufacturing confidence index gained to 110.2 from 106. German GfK Consumer Climate Indicator rose to -7 for June from a revised reading of -8.6 in May.
Economics
US durable goods orders fell 1.3% in April.
The US economy expanded by an annualized 6.4% in the first quarter following a 4.3% growth in the prior three-month period.
US initial jobless claims fell by 38,000 to 406,000 last week.
US pending home sales fell 4.4% in April.
US natural-gas supplies gained 115 billion cubic feet last week, the Energy Information Administration said.
The Treasury will auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.
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