U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 0.2% on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.17% to 41,932.94 while the NASDAQ rose 0.66% to 18,997.89. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.20% to 5,856.28.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares rose by 1.2% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, utilities stocks dipped by 1.9%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 2,000 from the previous week to 227,000 in the week ending May 17, compared to market estimates of 230,000.

Equities Trading UP

Vigil Neuroscience, Inc. ( VIGL ) shares shot up 242% to $7.91 after announcing Sanofi will acquire the company for approximately $600 million.

Shares of Navitas Semiconductor Corporation ( NVTS ) got a boost, surging 130% to $4.3988 after NVIDIA selected the company to collaborate on 800 V HVDC architecture.

Advance Auto Parts, Inc. ( AAP ) shares were also up, gaining 46% to $45.61 following better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.

Equities Trading DOWN

CEL-SCI Corporation ( CVM ) shares dropped 45% to $2.4887 following announcements for a $5 million public offering.

Shares of Sunrun Inc. ( RUN ) were down 39% to $6.49. BMO Capital analyst Ameet Thakkar downgraded Sunrun ( RUN ) from Market Perform to Underperform and lowered the price target from $9 to $4.

Enphase Energy, Inc. ( ENPH ) was down, falling 19% to $38.25. Shares of solar companies tumbled as investors digested the consequences of President Donald Trump’s sweeping budget and tax package dubbed "One Big, Beautiful Bill.”

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.9% to $61.02 while gold traded down 0.3% at $3,302.90.

Silver traded down 1.5% to $33.13 on Thursday, while copper fell 0.3% to $4.660.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.89%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.56%. London's FTSE 100 dipped 0.85%, Germany's DAX 40 declined 0.69% and France's CAC 40 fell 0.95% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei falling 0.84%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipping 1.19%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.22% and India's BSE Sensex declining 0.79%.

Economics

U.S. existing home sales fell 0.5% month-over-month to an annual rate of 4.00 million in April, recording the lowest level in six months.

The S&P Global services PMI climbed to 52.3 in May compared to 50.8 in the previous month.

The S&P Global manufacturing PMI rose to 52.3 in May from 50.2 in April.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index dipped to -0.25 in April compared to a revised reading of +0.03 in March.

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 2,000 from the previous week to 227,000 in the week ending May 17, compared to market estimates of 230,000.

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