Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.35% to 34,568.37 while the NASDAQ rose 0.5% to 13,981.31. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.46% to 4,238.79.
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 33,414,110 cases with around 598,760 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 29,182,530 cases and 355,700 deaths, while Brazil reported over 17,122,870 COVID-19 cases with 479,510 deaths. In total, there were at least 174,458,300 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,759,030 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Health care shares climbed 1.4% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Orphazyme A/S ORPH 98.66%, up 70%, and NuCana plc NCNA 20.59%, up 17%.
In trading on Thursday, financial shares fell 0.3%.
Top Headline
US annual inflation rate increased to 5% in May from 4.2% in April, above analysts’ estimates of 4.7%. The country recorded the highest reading since August 2008.
Equities Trading UP
Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. XIN 18.68% shares shot up 21% to $3.12 after the company highlighted completion of five newly constructed properties.
Shares of TRxADE HEALTH, Inc. MEDS 144.85% got a boost, shooting 150% to $10.20 as the company reported the launch of MedCheks Health Passport App for iOS devices.
Yiren Digital Ltd.. YRD 26.51% shares were also up, gaining 27% to $5.23 after reporting results for its first quarter.
Equities Trading DOWN
Aethlon Medical, Inc. AEMD 26.23% shares tumbled 25% to $8.05 after the company reported a 1.38 million share offering at $9 per share.
Shares of Ocugen, Inc. OCGN 24.44% were down 23% to $7.13 after the company announced it will pursue a biologics license application path for its COVID-19 vaccine instead of emergency use authorization.
Materialise NV MTLS 16.25% was down, falling 16% to $23.51 after the company reported pricing of public offering of 4.0 million American Depositary Shares.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $70.25, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,895.40.
Silver traded up 0.2% Thursday to $28.050 while copper fell 0.9% to 4.4890.
Euro zone
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.2% and the German DAX 30 fell 0.1%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1%, French CAC 40 slipped 0.3% and Italy’s FTSE MIB fell 0.4%.
French industrial production slipped 0.1% in April following a revised 1.0% rise in March, while payroll employment in the private sector increased 0.5% to 19.51 million in the first quarter. Italy's industrial production rose 1.8% in April.
Economics
US annual inflation rate increased to 5% in May from 4.2% in April, above analysts’ estimates of 4.7%.
US initial jobless claims fell to 376 thousand for the week ending June 5.
US natural gas supplies gained 98 billion cubic feet last week, the Energy Information Administration said.
The Treasury will to auction 30-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.
The U.S. Treasury statement for May will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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