U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 200 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.47% to 42,525.10 while the NASDAQ rose 0.84% to 19,554.71. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.62% to 5,908.52.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Consumer discretionary shares rose by 1.1% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, health care shares fell by 0.7%.

Top Headline

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) posted better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed expectations.

The company said it sees second-quarter revenue of $7.9 billion, plus or minus $200 million, versus estimates of $9 billion. The company expects second-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.43 per share, plus or minus 10 cents per share, versus estimates of $1.92 per share.

Equities Trading UP

• PainReform Ltd. (NASDAQ:PRFX) shares shot up 532% to $13.85.
• Shares of Trio Petroleum Corp. (NASDAQ:TPET)got a boost, surging 358% to $3.7550 after the company announced it will acquire the oil and gas assets in a heavy oil region of Saskatchewan, Canada for approximately $1.4 million.
• Bio-Path Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPTH) shares were also up, gaining 281% to $2.55 after the company announced preclinical testing of BP1001-A as a potential treatment for obesity in Type 2 diabetes patients by enhancing insulin sensitivity.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Snow Lake Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ:LITM) shares dropped 61% to $0.3185 as the company reported the pricing of public offering.
• Shares of Aethlon Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEMD) were down 38% to $0.4070.
• WANG & LEE GROUP, Inc. (NASDAQ:WLGS) was down, falling 43% to $1.15.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $70.78 while gold traded down 1.7% at $2,607.90.

Silver traded down 4.6% to $29.315 on Thursday, while copper fell 1.5% to $4.0955.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 dipped 1.7%, Germany's DAX fell 1.3% and France's CAC 40 declined 1.3%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 1.7%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 1.3%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.69%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.56%, China's Shanghai Composite Index declining 0.36% and India's BSE Sensex falling 1.20%.

Economics

• The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index dipped to -16.4 in December compared to -5.5 in November and down from market expectations of 3.
• The U.S. economy grew by an annualized rate of 3.1% in the third quarter compared to 2.8% in the second estimate and up from 3% in the previous quarter.
• U.S. existing home sales gained by 4.8% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 4.15 million in November.
• U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 22,000 to 220,000 in the first week of December, compared to market estimates of 230,000.

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