Nasdaq Gains 100 Points; US Initial Jobless Claims Edge Lower

U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 100 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.06% to 52,318.21 while the NASDAQ rose 0.46% to 25,988.39. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.24% to 7,500.39.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares jumped by 1.4% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples stocks fell by 1.7%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 2,000 to 215,000 in the week to July 4, compared to market estimates of 218,000.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Virax Biolabs Group Ltd (NASDAQ:VRAX) shares shot up 216% to $10.05 after the company announced its subsidiary, Virax Biolabs, entered into an exclusive multi-country commercial supply agreement with Fosun Diagnostics for ImmuneSelect research-use immune profiling product line.
• Shares of Lion Group Holding Ltd – ADR (NASDAQ:LGHL) got a boost, surging 40% to $0.45.
• Rocket One Inc (NASDAQ:RKTO) shares were also up, gaining 42% to $1.14 after the company announced it added SpaceXAI API to its AI technology stack.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Aimei Health Technology Co Ltd (NASDAQ:AFJK) shares dropped 33% to $18.00. Aimei Health Technology terminated the business combination agreement with United Hydrogen Group.
• Shares of LQR House Inc (NASDAQ:YHC) were down 27% to $0.026 after the company announced a 1-for-100 reverse stock split.
• Rackspace Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RXT) was down, falling 26% to $4.84 after the company cut its FY26 revenue guidance and filed prospectus for offering $250 million common shares.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.4% to $73.24 while gold traded up 1.2% at $4,131.60.

Silver traded up 2.7% to $60.140 on Thursday, while copper rose 2.1% to $6.2370.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.5%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.1%. London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4%, Germany’s DAX gained 0.6%, while France’s CAC 40 gained 0.7%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.38%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index falling 0.70%, China’s Shanghai Composite rising 1.65% and India’s BSE Sensex gaining 0.31%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 2,000 to 215,000 in the week to July 4, compared to market estimates of 218,000.

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