Nasdaq Surges Over 600 Points; Microsoft Shares Jump After Upbeat Q4 Results

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 600 points on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.69% to 51,951.16 while the NASDAQ surged 2.54% to 25,063.22. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.29% to 7,410.80.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares jumped by 5% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, communication services stocks fell by 3.3%.

Top Headline

Shares of Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) jumped around 15% on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.

Microsoft reported fourth-quarter revenue of $90.01 billion, up 18% year-over-year. The revenue total beat a Street consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. The company reported quarterly earnings per share of $4.74, beating a Street consensus estimate of $4.24.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Nuwellis (NASDAQ:NUWE) shares shot up 200% to $5.68 as the company announced acceptance of new single-center retrospective study in Frontiers in Pediatrics Journal.
• Shares of PN Smart Energy Ltd (NASDAQ:PN) got a boost, surging 51% to $16.16. PN Smart Energy completed the acquisition of Nanjing Cesun Power.
• Xerox Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:XRX) shares were also up, gaining 33% to $3.51 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly financial results.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Capricor Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CAPR) shares dropped 53% to $3.09 after the FDA Advisory Committee voted against its Deramiocel, an investigational cell therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
• Shares of Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:INO) were down 43% to $0.59 after the biotechnology company priced a $20 million underwritten public offering of common stock and accompanying warrants.
• Coastal Financial Corp (NASDAQ:CCB) was down, falling 40% to $42.50 after the company reported second-quarter results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.1% to $83.57 while gold traded up 2.6% at $4,139.40.

Silver traded up 0.6% to $58.410 on Thursday, while copper rose 2.1% to $6.4435.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.7%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 1.5% London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4%, Germany’s DAX gained 0.3%, while France’s CAC 40 surged 1.1%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.71%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rising 0.20%, China’s Shanghai Composite falling 0.62% and India’s BSE Sensex gaining 0.35%.

Economics

• U.S. personal income increased 0.2% month-over-month in June, down from market estimates of a 0.3% increase and easing from a 0.7% gain in May.
• U.S. personal spending rose by 0.3% month-over-month in June, slowing from a revised 0.9% gain in May.
• U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 9,000 to 197,000 in the week ending July 25, compared to market expectations of 200,000.
• The U.S. PCE price index fell 0.1% month-over-month in June, following a 0.5% rise in May.
• The U.S. economy grew by an annualized 1.5% in the second quarter, down from 2.1% in the first quarter and missing market estimates of 2.1%.

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