Benzinga
Published Apr 25, 2024 17:04
Updated Apr 25, 2024 18:10
S&P 500 Down Over 1%; Merck Increases 2024 Outlook
Benzinga - by Avi Kapoor, Benzinga Staff Writer.
U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite falling by around 250 points on Thursday.
The Dow traded down 1.55% to 37,864.79 while the NASDAQ fell 1.60% to 15,460.95. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 1.16% to 5,012.94.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares fell by just 0.2% on Thursday.
In trading on Thursday, communication services shares dipped by 5.3%.
Top Headline
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and raised its 2024 guidance.
Merck posted adjusted earnings of $2.07 per share, beating market estimates of $1.88 per share. The company's sales came in at $15.775 billion versus expectations of $15.196 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.7% to $82.26 while gold traded up 0.1% at $2,339.30.
Silver traded up 0.1% to $27.36 on Thursday, while copper rose 2.1% to $4.5525.
Euro zone
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.79%, London's FTSE 100 rose 0.29% while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.78% The German DAX fell 1.18% French CAC 40 fell 1.18% while Italy's FTSE MIB Index fell 1.07%.
Producer prices in Spain fell 8.2% year-over-year in March compared to a revised 8.5% decline in February. The GfK Consumer Climate Indicator for Germany climbed to -24.2 heading into May versus a revised reading of -27.3 in the prior period. UK's car production fell 27.1% to 59,467 units for March.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 2.16%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.48%, China's Shanghai Composite climbing 0.27% and India's S&P BSE Sensex gaining 0.66%.
Hong Kong's trade deficit increased to $45.0 billion in March from $40.6 billion in the year-ago month. The index of leading economic indicators in Japan came in unchanged at 111.8 in February, while index of coincident economic indicators was revised higher to 111.6 in February versus a flash reading of 110.9.
Economics
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