US stocks edge higher as jobless claims fall to 227,000 – Sify Technologies (NASDAQ:SIFY)

US stocks traded slightly higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 0.2% on Thursday.

After the opening of the market on Thursday, the Dow Jones rose 0.06% to 41,000.33 points, while the Nasdaq rose 0.22% to 17,121.18 points. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining 0.06% to 5,523.29 points.

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Leading and lagging sectors

Consumer discretionary stocks rose 0.9% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, industrial stocks fell 0.6%.

Main headline

U.S. initial jobless claims fell 5,000 from the previous week to 227,000 in the week ended Aug. 31, compared with market estimates of 230,000.

Shares are trading higher

• Eastside Distilling, Inc. THIS Shares rose 212% to $2.39 following disclosure of a merger agreement with Beeline Financial Holdings, Inc., a private mortgage technology company.
• Actions of Hoth Therapeutics, Inc. WET got a boost, rising 86% to $1.29 after the company announced data on the treatment of epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor-associated papulopustular eruptions with its novel therapeutic HT-001.
• Applied Digital Corporation APLD Shares also rose, gaining 40% to $4.5399 after the company signed agreements for a $160 million private placement financing at market price from a group of institutional and accredited investors, including NVIDIA and related companies.

Shares are trading lower

• Singularity Future Technology Ltd. SGLY Shares fell 29% to $4.76.
• Actions of Qualigen Therapeutics, Inc. QLGN fell 20% to $0.1470 after the company announced a $3.46 million public offering of 14,724,058 shares at $0.13 per share and pre-funded warrants.
• Sify Technologies Limited SIFY fell 22% to $0.5091.

Raw materials

In commodities news, oil rose 1% to $69.89, while gold gained 0.9% to $2,547.80.

Silver rose 1.9% to $29.105 on Thursday, while copper rose 0.9% to $4.1135.

Eurozones

European stocks closed with mixed results. The eurozone STOXX 600 fell 0.3%, Germany's DAX rose 0.2% and France's CAC 40 fell 0.5%. Spain's IBEX 35 rose 0.7%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.1%.

Eurozone retail sales rose 0.1% month-on-month in July, compared with a revised 0.4% decline in the previous month. The HCOB Eurozone Construction PMI was unchanged at 41.4 in August. The S&P Global UK Construction PMI declined to 53.6 in August compared with 55.3 in July.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 down 1.05%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index down 0.08%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.14% and India's BSE Sensex down 0.18%.

Average cash income in Japan rose 3.6% year-on-year in July, compared with a 4.5% increase in the previous month.

Economic sciences

• U.S. private employers added 99,000 workers to their payrolls in August, compared with a revised increase of 111,000 in July and versus market estimates of 145,000.
• U.S. initial jobless claims fell 5,000 from the previous week to 227,000 in the week ended Aug. 31, compared with market estimates of 230,000.
• U.S. nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 2.5% in the second quarter, versus the preliminary estimate of 2.3% and compared with the 0.4% increase recorded in the first quarter.
• Unit labor costs in the nonfarm business sector increased at an annualized rate of 0.4% during the second quarter.

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