U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 2% on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.97% to 39,989.57 while the NASDAQ gained 2.24% to 17,082.79. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.69% to 5,466.54.

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Leading and Lagging SectorsInformation technology shares jumped by 2.5% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples fell by 1.2%.

Top Headline

Bristol Myers Squibb & Co (NYSE:BMY) reported better-than-expected first-quarter results.

The company posted quarterly revenues of $11.20 billion, beating the consensus of $10.70 billion. The company reported an adjusted EPS of $1.80, a turnaround from a loss of $4.40 a year ago, beating the consensus of $1.49.

Bristol Myers Squibb raised its fiscal year 2025 adjusted EPS from $6.55-$6.85 to $6.70-$7.00 compared to consensus of $6.74.

Equities Trading UP                       

• Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CYH) shares shot up 24% to $3.0250 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.
• Shares of TMC the metals company Inc. (NASDAQ:TMC)got a boost, surging 34% to $3.4255 following a Reuters report indicating President Trump is expected to sign an executive order to advance the deep sea mining industry.
• CERo Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CERO) shares were also up, gaining 32% to $1.05 after the company announced the key clinical trial site location for its Phase 1 CER-1236 trial.

Equities Trading DOWN

• TAL Education Group (NYSE:TAL) shares dropped 16% to $9.18 after the company reported worse-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.
• Shares of Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE:FI) were down 16% to $181.90 after the company issued FY25 adjusted EPS guidance with its midpoint below estimates.
• ASGN Incorporated (NYSE:ASGN) was down, falling 15% to $49.78 following weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings.

CommoditiesIn commodity news, oil traded up 0.3% to $62.48 while gold traded up 1.1% at $3,330.70.

Silver traded down 0.6% to $33.355 on Thursday, while copper fell 0.1% to $4.8395.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.36%, Germany's DAX 40 gained 0.49% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.26%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.40%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.05%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 surging 0.49%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.03%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.74% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.39%.

Economics

• U.S. natural-gas stocks increased 88 billion cubic feet during the week ending April 18, compared to market estimates of 65 bcf gain.
• U.S. existing home sales fell by 5.6% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 4.02 million units in March.
• The Chicago Fed National Activity Index declined to -0.03 in March compared to a reading of +0.24 in February.
• U.S. initial jobless claims climbed by 6,000 from the previous week to 222,000 during the third week of April.
• U.S. durable goods orders gained by 9.2% month-over-month to $315.7 billion in March.

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