Benzinga - by Avi Kapoor, Benzinga Staff Writer.
U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining more than 250 points on Thursday.
The Dow traded up 0.75% to 38,713.88 while the NASDAQ rose 0.22% to 15,894.39. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.52% to 5,026.65.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares rose by 2% on Thursday.
In trading on Thursday, information technology shares fell by 0.6%.
Top Headline
Shares of US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE: USFD) gained around 3% on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue results and issued FY24 net sales guidance above estimates.
US Foods reported fourth-quarter revenue of $8.936 billion, beating the street view of $8.791 billion. Net sales increased 4.9% year over year. Quarterly adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 16.4% to 64 cents, missing the street view of 67 cents.
For FY24, the company sees net sales of $37.5 billion to $38.5 billion (estimate: $37.32 billion), with adjusted EPS of $3.00-$3.20 (estimate: $3.23).
Equities Trading UP
JX Luxventure Limited (NASDAQ: JXJT) shares shot up 152% to $3.28 following H1 results.
Shares of SoundHound AI, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOUN) got a boost, surging 64% to $3.6899 after AI darling Nvidia reported a stake in the company.
Nano-X Imaging Ltd. (NASDAQ: NNOX) shares were also up, gaining 54% to $9.82. Nvidia reported a 59,632 share stake in Nano X Imaging.
Equities Trading DOWN
Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) shares dropped 32% to $8.02 following weak quarterly earnings.
Shares of Treasure Global Inc. (NASDAQ: TGL) were down 43% to $0.0896 following second-quarter results.
Renalytix Plc (NASDAQ: RNLX) was down, falling 35% to $0.7871 after the company posted weak quarterly sales.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 1.9% to $78.10 while gold traded up 0.5% at $2,014.00.
Silver traded up 2.3% to $22.90 on Thursday while copper rose 1.4% to $3.7530.
Euro zone
European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.68%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.38% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.11% The German DAX rose 0.60% French CAC 40 rose 0.86% while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.17%.
The Eurozone recorded a trade surplus of €16.8 billion in December versus a year-ago deficit of €8.5 billion. Italy reported a trade surplus of EUR 5.61 billion in December. Spain's consumer price inflation rose to a three-month high of 3.4% year-over-year in January.
The UK’s economy expanded by 0.1% in 2023, recording the weakest performance since 2020. Labor productivity in the UK declined by 1.0% on quarter in the fourth quarter, while industrial production increased 0.6% month-over-month in December. The UK's trade deficit shrank to £2.603 billion in December versis a revised £3.723 billion a month ago.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed higher on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.21%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.41%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 1.28% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex gaining 0.32%.
India reported a trade deficit of $17.5 billion in January, versus a year-ago gap of $17.03 billion, while total passenger vehicle sales in the country rose by 13.9% year-over-year to 339,441 for January. Japan’s industrial production growth was revised lower to 1.4% month-over-month for compared to flash reading of a 1.8% increase, while the country’s economy contracted by 0.4% on an annualized basis in the fourth quarter.
Economics
The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index rose to -2.4 in February from -43.7 in the previous month and compared to market estimates of -15.
The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index increased 16 points to a reading of 5.2 in February, versus market expectations of -8.
Export prices in the U.S. rose 0.8% month-over-month in January, while U.S. import prices increased by 0.8%.
U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 8,000 from the previous week’s revised reading to 212,000 during the period ending Feb. 9, versus market expectations of 220,000.
U.S. retail sales fell 0.8% month-over-month in January compared to a revised 0.4% increase in December, and versus market estimates of a 0.1% fall.
Industrial production in the U.S. fell by 0.1% from the prior month in January.
Total business inventories in the U.S. increased by 0.4% month-over-month in December.
The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose to 48 in February, recording the highest level in six months.
U.S. natural-gas supplies fell 49 billion cubic feet during the week ended Feb. 9, 2024.
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