U.S. stocks traded mixed midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 100 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded down 0.15% to 44,393.57 while the NASDAQ rose 0.62% to 21,260.82. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.27% to 6,380.37.

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Leading and Lagging SectorsCommunication services shares jumped by 2.5% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, health care stocks dipped by 0.8%.

Top Headline

Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) reported better-than-expected second-quarter financial results and issued third-quarter sales guidance above estimates on Wednesday.

Meta reported second-quarter revenue of $47.52 billion, beating analyst estimates of $44.58 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. The company reported second-quarter earnings of $7.14 per share, beating estimates of $5.79 per share.

Equities Trading UP           

• Soligenix, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNGX) shares shot up 172% to $3.40 after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter EPS and sales.
• Shares of VerifyMe, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRME) got a boost, surging 59% to $1.0909 after the company announced it entered into a 3-year UPS Digital Channel Program Agreement with the United Parcel Service.
• Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) shares were also up, gaining 36% to $13.62 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly adjusted EPS results. Additionally, Needham and HC Wainwright & Co. raised their respective price targets on the stock.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Pulmonx Corporation (NASDAQ:LUNG) shares dropped 38% to $1.9499 after the company reported second-quarter financial results and cut its FY25 sales guidance below estimates. Also, Piper Sandler downgraded the stock from Overweight to Neutral and cut its price target from $9 to $2.5, while D. Boral Capital cut its price target from $17 to $16.
• Shares of Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) were down 33% to $136.89 after the company missed second-quarter earnings estimates and issued soft third-quarter guidance.
• GRI Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRI) was down, falling 28% to $1.4905 as the company reported 6-week interim biomarker results from Phase 2a idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis study.

CommoditiesIn commodity news, oil traded down 1.1% to $69.25 while gold traded down 0.2% at $3,346.70.

Silver traded down 3.2% to $36.54 on Thursday, while copper fell 22% to $4.3600.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.57%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index gained 0.33%. London's FTSE 100 rose 0.01%, Germany's DAX 40 declined 0.70% and France's CAC 40 fell 0.71% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 1.02%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng falling 1.60%, China's Shanghai Composite dipping 1.18% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.36%.

Economics

• The core PCE price index rose 0.3% from the previous month in June.
• Personal spending rose 0.3% month-over-month in June, while personal income rose by 0.3% month-over-month to $25.794 trillion.
• U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 1,000 from the previous week to 218,000 in the fourth week of July, compared to market estimates of 224,000.
• U.S. employment costs rose by 0.9% in the second quarter.
• U.S.-based employers announced job cuts of 62,075 in July.
• U.S. natural-gas stocks rose 48 billion cubic feet in the week ending July 25.
• The Chicago Business Barometer climbed to 47.1 in July versus 40.4 in June.

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