U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more 1% on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.75% to 44,820.06 while the NASDAQ gained 1.04% to 20,605.03. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.85% to 6,280.22.

Check This Out: Top 3 Financial Stocks You May Want To Dump This Quarter

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares jumped by 1.3% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples stocks slipped by 0.01%.

Top Headline

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 147,000 in June, the strongest reading so far in 2025, up from an upwardly revised 144,000 in May and well above economists' expectations of 110,000.

The unemployment rate dipped to 4.1% from 4.2%, also beating forecasts for a rise to 4.3%. It marks the lowest unemployment rate since January 2025.

Equities Trading UP

Tripadvisor, Inc. ( TRIP ) shares shot up 17% to $17.58 after activist investor Starboard Value acquired a 9% stake in the company.

Shares of La Rosa Holdings Corp.  got a boost, surging 80% to $0.1439 after the company reported preliminary unaudited revenue of $38.4 million for the first half of 2025.

Olo Inc. ( OLO ) shares were also up, gaining 14% to $10.13 after the company announced that it entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Thoma Bravo.

Equities Trading DOWN

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ( INO ) shares dropped 37% to $1.3486 after the company announced a $25 million public offering.

Shares of Netcapital Inc. ( NCPL ) were down 35% to $5.52 after the company announced up to a $9.9 million registered direct offering priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules.

Franklin Covey Co. ( FC ) was down, falling 12% to $21.34 as the company reported downbeat results for the third quarter and lowered its FY2025 sales guidance after the closing bell on Wednesday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1% to $66.81 while gold traded down 0.7% at $3,337.00.

Silver traded up 0.6% to $36.93 on Thursday, while copper fell 0.8% to $5.1540.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.30%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.75%. London's FTSE 100 rose 0.36%, Germany's DAX 40 gained 0.46% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.18% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei gaining 0.06%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng falling 0.63%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.18% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.20%.

Economics

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 147,000 in June, the strongest reading so far in 2025, up from an upwardly revised 144,000 in May and well above economists' expectations of 110,000.

The unemployment rate dipped to 4.1% from 4.2%, also beating forecasts for a rise to 4.3%. It marks the lowest unemployment rate since January 2025.

Average hourly earnings rose just 0.2% on the month, down from 0.4% in May and below the 0.3% expected. Year-over-year wage growth eased from 3.8% to 3.7%, undershooting the 3.9% forecast.

The S&P Global composite PMI fell to 52.9 in June compared to 53.0 in May.

The U.S. trade gap increased to $71.5 billion in May versus a revised $60.3 billion gap in the previous month.

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 4,000 from the previous week to 233,000 in the week ended June 28, compared to market expectations of 240,000.

U.S. natural-gas stocks rose 55 billion cubic feet for the week ending June 27.

New orders for US manufactured goods rose by 8.2% month-over-month to $642 billion in May.

The ISM services PMI climbed to 50.8 in June versus 49.9 in the previous month, above market estimates of 50.5.

The S&P Global composite PMI fell to 52.9 in June from 53.0 in the previous month.

Now Read This:

Cramer Doesn’t Recommend Titan International, Joby Aviation Soars After Milestone Flight

Photo via Shutterstock