U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones index gaining 1% on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 1.02% to 41,508.88 while the NASDAQ rose 0.34% to 17,616.32. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.50% to 5,620.08.

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Dollar General Corporation DG reported worse-than-expected second-quarter results and lowered its 2024 guidance.

Dollar General has revised its fiscal year 2024 outlook, lowering its EPS forecast from a range of $6.80 to $7.55 to a new range of $5.50 to $6.20, compared to the $7.12 estimate. The company also reduced its revenue forecast from $41.01 billion to $41.28 billion to a revised range of $40.51 billion to $40.74 billion, against the $41.02 billion estimate.

Equities Trading UP

Equities Trading DOWN

were down 30% to $0.4406 after the company announced a $5 million registered direct offering and concurrent private placement. Big Lots, Inc. BIG was down, falling 38% to $0.5812 after a report suggesting the company is considering a bankruptcy filing.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.8% to $75.88 while gold traded up 0.9% at $2,559.70.

Silver traded up 2.5% to $29.925 on Thursday, while copper rose 0.1% to $4.2225.

Euro zone

Annual inflation rate in Germany eased to 1.9% in August from 2.3% in July. The consumer confidence indicator in the Eurozone declined to -13.5 in August, versus earlier expectations of -13.4. The economic sentiment indicator in the Eurozone climbed to 96.6 in August from the revised 96 in the prior month

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.02%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.53%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.50% and India's BSE Sensex rising 0.43%.

The consumer confidence index in Japan came in unchanged at 36.7 in August.

Economics

Core PCE prices in the U.S. increased by 2.8% from the prior quarter in the second, compared to market estimates of 2.9%.

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 2,000 from the prior week to 231,000 in the period ending Aug. 24.

U.S. real gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 3.0% in the second quarter, up from 1.4% in the first quarter.

The U.S. trade deficit in goods increased to $102.7 billion in July versus a revised $96.6 billion gap in the prior month.

U.S. wholesale inventories rose by 0.3% month-over-month to $905 billion in July, versus a revised 0.2% gain in the earlier month.

U.S. natural gas stocks rose 35 billion cubic feet during the week that ended Aug. 23.

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