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

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.57% to 41,349.21 while the NASDAQ gained 0.84% to 17,886.92. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.62% to 5,666.44.

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Leading and Lagging SectorsEnergy shares rose by 1.3% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, health care stocks fell by 0.9%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 13,000 to 228,000 in the week ending May 3, compared to market estimates of 230,000

Equities Trading UP                       

• Jianzhi Education Technology Group Company Limited (NASDAQ:JZ) shares shot up 47% to $1.10.
• Shares of Asset Entities Inc. (NASDAQ:ASST) got a boost, surging 83% to $6.21. Asset Entities shares jumped 450% on Wednesday after the company announced it entered into a merger agreement with Strive Asset Management to be the first publicly traded asset management bitcoin treasury company.
• Solidion Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:STI) shares were also up, gaining 57% to $0.1473 after the company presented its patented technology for transforming lithium-ion facilities into battery producers.

Equities Trading DOWN

• NuCana plc (NASDAQ:NCNA) shares dropped 65% to $0.1058 after dipping 25% on Wednesday. NuCana recently announced a registered direct offering with approximately $7 million gross proceeds.
• Shares of Vor Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ:VOR) were down 60% to $0.2126 after the company announced exploration of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value.
• Compass Diversified (NYSE:CODI) was down, falling 58% to $7.18. Compass Diversified disclosed non-reliance on financial statements for fiscal 2024 amid an ongoing internal investigation into its subsidiary, Lugano Holding, Inc.

CommoditiesIn commodity news, oil traded up 1.7% to $59.08 while gold traded down 0.8% at $3,365.60.

Silver traded down 0.3% to $32.685 on Thursday, while copper fell 1.2% to $4.6035.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.6%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.1%. London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.1%, Germany's DAX 40 rose 0.8% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.8% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei gaining 0.41%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.37%, China's Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.28% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.51%.

Economics

• U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 13,000 to 228,000 in the week ending May 3, compared to market estimates of 230,000.
• U.S. labor productivity in the nonfarm business sector declined by 0.8% during the first quarter compared to estimates of a 0.7% drop.
• U.S. unit labor costs increased by 5.7% in the first quarter of compared to market estimates of a 5.1% gain.

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