U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 100 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.55% to 42,557.62 while the NASDAQ rose 0.52% to 19,492.93. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.46% to 5,899.14.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
Utilities shares rose by 1.3% on Thursday.

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

Top Headline

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.

Equities Trading UP

• Omeros Corporation (NASDAQ:OMER) shares shot up 39% to $10.38 after the company's Narsoplimab met pivotal trial primary endpoint.
• Shares of Trio Petroleum Corp. (NASDAQ:TPET)got a boost, surging 100% to $1.6500 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 162% to $1.7501 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 63% to $0.3101 as the company reported the pricing of public offering.
• Shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) were down 23% to $60.49 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 earnings and lowered FY25 outlook.
• Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) was down, falling 17% to $86.66. Micron 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.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1% to $69.89 while gold traded down 1.5% at $2,614.90.

Silver traded down 4% to $29.540 on Thursday, while copper fell 1.8% to $4.0835.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 dipped 1.51%, Germany's DAX fell 1.35% and France's CAC 40 declined 1.22%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 1.53%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 1.14%.

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.
• The Kansas City Fed's Manufacturing Production Index declined by one point to a reading of -5 in December.
• U.S. natural-gas supplies fell 125 billion cubic feet during the week ending Dec. 13.

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