U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the S&P 500 gaining around 1% on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.60% to 51,773.24 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.55% to 26,381.21. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.05% to 7,630.78.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares jumped by 2.1% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples stocks fell by 0.2%.

Top Headline

U.S. pending home sales increased 0.3% month-over-month in August, following a revised 2.6% drop in July and compared to market estimates of a 2.0% increase.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Aethlon Medical Inc (NASDAQ:AEMD) shares shot up 390% to $7.00 after the company announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement for an all-stock transaction with North Immunology.
• Shares of Datasea Intelligent Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:DTSS) got a boost, surging 81% to $1.07 after the company announced its Chinese operating entities have recently entered into AI agent digital marketing service cooperation agreements and pre-order arrangements with five customers.
• CID HoldCo Inc (NASDAQ:DAIC) shares were also up, gaining 146% to $4.94 following a series of major corporate transactions detailed in SEC filings after the market close on Wednesday. The holding company announced a binding agreement to acquire shared electric vehicle platform Envoy Technologies for $65 million, alongside a senior debt settlement that eliminates default liabilities and a formal presentation to defend its Nasdaq listing.

Equities Trading DOWN

• ReTo Eco-Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:RETO) shares dropped 89% to $0.21 after the company announced the pricing of a $15 million offering of 10 million shares at $1.5 per share.
• Shares of Delixy Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:DLXY) were down 69% to $0.71. Delixy Holdings recently announced it entered into a non-binding letter of intent with Caog for acquisition or merger of up to 48% of shares in Tarbagatay Munay.
• Fluence Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FLNC) was down, falling 14% to $7.78 after multiple analyst firms lowered their respective price targets on the stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.4% to $101.04 while gold traded up 0.4% at $4,405.20.

Silver traded up 2.1% to $66.305 on Thursday, while copper rose 2.2% to $6.6500.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.86%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.19%, Germany’s DAX gained 0.70%, while France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.57%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.33%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index falling 0.44%, China’s Shanghai Composite dropping 0.41% and India’s BSE Sensex falling 0.03%.

Economics

• U.S. initial jobless claims declined by 10,000 to 196,000 during the second week of September, compared to market estimates of 208,000.
• The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index dropped to 37.8 in September from 47.4 in the previous month, versus market estimates of 30.5.
• U.S. housing starts fell 2.6% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 1.275 million units in August.
• U.S. building permits declined by 2.7% month-over-month to an annual rate of 1.394 million in August, down from market estimates of 1.41 million.
• U.S. natural gas stocks rose by 44 billion cubic feet in the week ended Sept. 11, compared to market estimates of a 49 bcf gain.
• U.S. pending home sales increased 0.3% month-over-month in August, following a revised 2.6% drop in July and compared to market estimates of a 2.0% increase.

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