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

The Dow traded up 0.11% to 45,616.50 while the NASDAQ rose 0.50% to 21,697.97. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.24% to 6,497.14.

Check This Out: Top 3 Health Care Stocks You’ll Regret Missing This Quarter

Leading and Lagging SectorsCommunication services shares jumped by 1% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, health care stocks fell by 0.6%.

Top Headline

Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its FY2025 guidance.

The company posted net sales of $10.72 billion, up 5.1% year-over-year, slightly ahead of the consensus estimate of $10.69 billion. Earnings came in at $1.86 per share, topping the Street's estimate of $1.57.

Equities Trading UP           

• Sound Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SOGP) shares shot up 161% to $9.90 following the release of its H1 financial results. Additionally, the company announced it has approved a special cash dividend of $0.005 per share or $1.00 per ADS.
• Shares of CaliberCos Inc. (NASDAQ:CWD) got a boost, surging 46% to $2.4850 after the company announced it has adopted a digital asset strategy.
• Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) shares were also up, gaining 31% to $79.51 after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter financial results and raised its FY26 sales guidance above estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Outlook Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OTLK) shares dropped 55% to $1.0742 after the FDA issued a Complete Response Letter for its resubmitted ONS-5010 BLA.
• Shares of Accelerant Holdings (NYSE:ARX) were down 27% to $21.52 following second-quarter results.
• Moleculin Biotech, Inc. (NASDAQ:MBRX) was down, falling 33% to $0.4043. Moleculin announced exercise of warrants for $6.0 million gross proceeds.

CommoditiesIn commodity news, oil traded down 0.7% to $63.69 while gold traded up 0.8% at $3,475.40.

Silver traded up 1.4% to $39.745 on Thursday, while copper rose 0.9% to $4.5350.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.20%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.34%. London's FTSE 100 fell 0.42%, Germany's DAX 40 declined 0.03% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.24% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.73%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipping 0.81%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 1.14% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.87%.

Economics

• U.S. pending home sales declined by 0.4% from the previous month in July following a 0.8% decline in the previous month.
• U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 229,000 in the week ending Aug. 23, compared to market expectations of 230,000.
• The U.S. economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.3% in the second quarter, following a 0.5% contraction in the previous quarter.
• The Kansas City Fed's Manufacturing Production Index rose to 0 in August from -3 in July.
• U.S. natural-gas stocks rose 18 billion cubic feet during the week ended Aug. 22.
• U.S. pending home sales declined by 0.4% from the previous month in July following a 0.8% fall in the previous month.

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