Dow Surges Over 300 Points; Kroger Profit Beats Views

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with Dow Jones gaining more than 300 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.98% to 34,313.85 while the NASDAQ rose 0.73% to 13,726.16. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.81% to 4,408.03.

Check This Out: Adobe Likely To Report Higher Q2 Earnings; Here's A Look At Recent Price Target Changes By The Most Accurate Analysts

 

Leading and Lagging Sectors

• Energy shares jumped by 1.4% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEN), up 12%, and Tellurian Inc. (NYSE:TELL), up 7%.
• In trading on Thursday, real estate shares fell by 0.4%.

 

Top Headline

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) posted better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed estimates.

Kroger reported first-quarter FY23 sales growth of 1.3% year-on-year to $45.16 billion, missing the analyst consensus of $45.24 billion. Adjusted EPS of $1.51 beat the analyst consensus of $1.46.

 

Equities Trading UP

• EdtechX Holdings Acquisition Corp. II (NASDAQ:EDTX) shares shot up 120% to $24.30. EdtechX Holdings Acquisition Corp II reported an amendment to extend date to consummate a business combination from June 15, 2023 to Dec. 15, 2023.
• Shares of VIQ Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VQS) got a boost, shooting 21% to $0.3176 after the company partnered with Justice AV Solutions to bring AI-generated draft transcripts of courtroom proceedings.
• AMMO, Inc. (NASDAQ:POWW) shares were also up, gaining 21% to $2.47 after the company posted upbeat quarterly results.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

• Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRSN) shares dropped 58% to $3.9795 after the FDA issued a partial clinical hold pausing new patient enrollment in the company's UP-NEXT and UPGRADE-A ovarian cancer trials.
• Shares of Bone Biologics Corporation (NASDAQ:BBLG) were down 53% to $1.83 after the company priced its public offering of 2.54 million shares at $1.97 per share.
• OncoSec Medical Incorporated (NASDAQ:ONCS) was down, falling 49% to $0.2197. OncoSec Medical filed voluntary petition for relief under bankruptcy. The company also said Robert Arch tendered his resignation as company's President and CEO effective on June 14.

Also Check This Out: Top 5 Tech And Telecom Stocks You'll Regret Missing This Quarter

 

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.8% to $69.52 while gold traded down 0.1% at $1,967.00.

Silver traded down 1% to $23.86 on Thursday while copper rose 0.6% to $3.8915.

 

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.23%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.19% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 0.01% The German DAX dropped 0.2% French CAC 40 fell 0.57% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.38%.

The European Central Bank increased interest rates by 25 basis points during its June meeting. The Eurozone recorded a deficit of EUR 11.7 billion in April versus a year-ago gap of EUR 34.5 billion.

Spanish trade deficit shrank to EUR 4.38 billion in April from EUR 6.39 billion in the year-ago month. French consumer price inflation was confirmed at 5.1% year-over-year in May, recording the lowest level since April 2022.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 0.05%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 2.17% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.74%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.5%.

India's merchandise trade deficit shrank to $22.12 billion in May from $24.29 billion in the year-ago month. Manufacturing production in Hong Kong surged 3.9% year-over-year in the first quarter versus a 0.1% drop in the prior period. Japan's trade deficit narrowed to JPY 1,372.5 billion in May from JPY 2,366.1 billion in the year-ago month.

Chinese retail sales climbed by 12.7% year-over-year in May, while unemployment rate came in unchanged at 5.2% in May. China's industrial production surged by 3.5% year-over-year in May. The People’s Bank of China cut the one-year medium-term lending facility rate by 10 basis points to 2.65%, while Hong Kong Monetary Authority held its base rate unchanged at 5.5%.

 

Economics

• The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index jumped 38 points to a reading of +6.6 in June.
• U.S. jobless claims came in unchanged at 262,000 in the week ending June 10, versus the previous week’s revised value. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 249,000.
• Retail sales in the U.S. increased 0.3% month-over-month in May versus a 0.4% growth in April, and topping market expectations for a 0.1% drop.
• Export prices in the U.S. fell 1.9% month-over-month in May, while import prices fell 0.6% during the month.
• Industrial production in the U.S. declined 0.2% from a month ago in May, missing market estimates of a 0.1% growth.
• U.S. business inventories increased by 0.2% from a month ago in April.
• U.S. natural-gas supplies increased 84 billion cubic feet last week, the EIA said.

Now Read This: Insiders Buying Caesars Entertainment And 2 Other Stocks

 

COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 107,198,300 cases with around 1,166,860 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,993,180 cases and 531,890 deaths, while France reported over 40,118,610 COVID-19 cases with 167,500 deaths. In total, there were at least 690,356,740 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,891,280 deaths.