Grapevine

US Stocks Edge Higher; Jobless Claims Fall To 227,000 - Sify Technologies (NASDAQ:SIFY)

U.S. stocks traded slightly higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 0.2% on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.06% to 41,000.33 while the NASDAQ rose 0.22% to 17,121.18. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.06% to 5,523.29.

Check This Out: How To Earn $500 A Month From Smith & Wesson Brands Stock Ahead Of Q1 Earnings Report

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 from the prior week to 227,000 in the week ending August 31, compared to market estimates of 230,000.

Equities Trading UP

Equities Trading DOWN

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $69.89 while gold traded up 0.9% at $2,547.80.

Silver traded up 1.9% to $29.105 on Thursday, while copper rose 0.9% to $4.1135.

Euro zone

Retail sales in the Eurozone rose by 0.1% from the previous month in July compared to a revised 0.4% decline in the earlier month. The HCOB Eurozone construction PMI came in unchanged at 41.4 in August. The S&P Global UK construction PMI declined to 53.6 in August compared to 55.3 in July.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 1.05%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.08%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.14% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.18%.

Average cash earnings in Japan rose by 3.6% year-over-year in July versus a 4.5% increase in the prior month.

Economics

U.S. private businesses added 99,000 workers to their payrolls in August compared to a revised 111,000 gain in July and versus market estimates of 145,000.

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 from the prior week to 227,000 in the week ending August 31, compared to market estimates of 230,000.

U.S. non-farm business sector labor productivity rose by 2.5% in the second quarter versus the preliminary estimate of 2.3% and compared to the 0.4% gain recorded in the first quarter.

Unit labor costs in the nonfarm business sector rose by an annualized rate of 0.4% during the second quarter.