U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining over 1.5% on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.51% to 40,876.98 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.55% to 17,716.04. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.87% to 5,617.57.

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Leading and Lagging SectorsInformation technology shares rose by 2.5% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, health care stocks dipped by 1.4%.

Top Headline

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported better-than-expected third-quarter financial results on Wednesday.

The company reported third-quarter revenue of $70.07 billion, up 13% year-over-year. The revenue total beat a Street consensus estimate of $68.43 billion according to data from Benzinga Pro. Microsoft said it sees fourth-quarter sales of $73.150 billion to $74.250 billion, versus market estimates of $72.28 billion.

Equities Trading UP                       

• Zoomcar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZCAR) shares shot up 301% to $16.32.
• Shares of Classover Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:KIDZ)got a boost, surging 153% to $2.9097. Classover Holdings entered into $400 million equity purchase facility agreement to launch SOL-based treasury strategy.
• Bit Origin Ltd (NASDAQ:BTOG) shares were also up, gaining 43% to $0.2164.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Highest Performances Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:HPH) shares dropped 28% to $8.30.
• Shares of Arvinas, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARVN) were down 28% to $6.93 after the company posted first-quarter results.
• E-Home Household Service Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:EJH) was down, falling 25% to $0.3186.

CommoditiesIn commodity news, oil traded up 0.8% to $58.69 while gold traded down 2.5% at $3,235.30.

Silver traded down 0.6% to $32.625 on Thursday, while copper rose 1.1% to $4.6580.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.1%, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.1%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei gaining 1.13%.

Economics

• U.S. construction spending fell by 0.5% month-over-month to an annual rate of $2,196.1 billion in March.
• The ISM manufacturing PMI declined to 48.7 in April compared to 49.0 in March, above market estimates of 48.
• U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 18,000 to 241,000 in the week ending April 26, compared to market estimates of 224,000.

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