U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Dow Jones index falling around 50 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded down 0.12% to 44,958.81 while the NASDAQ rose 0.04% to 19,742.79. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.04% to 6,084.03.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares jumped by 0.8% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, materials shares fell by 0.8%.

Top Headline

Kroger Company (NYSE:KR) reported weaker-than-expected sales for the third quarter on Thursday.

The company reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 98 cents, in-line with the street view. Quarterly sales of $33.634 billion (down 0.9% year-on-year) missed the analyst consensus estimate of $34.204 billion. Identical Sales ex-fuel increased by 2.3%.

Kroger has narrowed its FY2024 adjusted EPS guidance from $4.30-$4.50 to $4.35-$4.45, compared to the $4.44 estimate. The company also expects identical sales growth, excluding fuel, to be between 1.20% and 1.50%

Equities Trading UP

• Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKDA) shares shot up 138% to $6.69 after the company announced an all-stock merger with Roosevelt Resources where Roosevelt will receive a 90% equity stake.
• Shares of Protara Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TARA) got a boost, surging 147% to $8.74 after the company announced results from its ongoing Phase 2 TARA-002 trial in patients with NMIBC.
• PainReform Ltd. (NASDAQ:PRFX) shares were also up, gaining 95% to $5.22 after the company announced changes in management including new CFO and CEO appointees.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Algorhythm Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIME) shares dropped 44% to $0.0950 after the company announced the pricing of its $9.5 million public offering of 55.88 million shares with accompanying Series A and B Warrants.
• Shares of Santech Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:STEC) were down 32% to $0.67. Santech Holdings announced 180-day extension to regain compliance with Nasdaq Minimum Bid Requirement.
• SRM Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRM) was down, falling 29% to $0.8201. SRM Entertainment priced its $1.7 million registered direct offering of common shares at $0.78385/share.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $68.93 while gold traded down 0.2% at $2,669.70.

Silver traded down 0.3% to $31.830 on Thursday, while copper fell 0.1% to $4.1990.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.1%, Germany's DAX climbed 0.3% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.2%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 1.3%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.1%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.30%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.92%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.12% and India's BSE Sensex gaining 1%.

Economics

• U.S. initial jobless claims increased to 224,000 in the week ending Nov. 30, compared to 213,000 in the previous week, and higher than market estimates of 215,000.
• U.S. trade deficit shrank to $73.8 billion in October versus a revised $83.8 billion gap in the previous month and compared to market estimates of a $75 billion gap.
• U.S. employers announced 57,727 job cuts for the month of November compared to 55,597 in October.

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