US Stocks Edge Lower; Retail Sales Increase Less Than Expected

Author: Avi Kapoor | January 16, 2025 10:07am

U.S. stocks traded slightly lower this morning, with the Dow Jones index falling around 0.2% on Thursday.

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.19% to 43,137.38 while the NASDAQ fell 0.11% to 19,489.02. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.03% to 5,947.83.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares surged by 0.8% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary shares fell by 0.6%.

Top Headline

U.S. retail sales rose 0.4% month-over-month in December versus a revised 0.8% increase in the previous month and down from market estimates of 0.6%.

Equities Trading UP

Biomerica, Inc. (NASDAQ:BMRA) shares shot up 246% to $1.1700 after the company announced its Fortel Prostate Specific Antigen Screening Test received approval from the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Health and Prevention.
Shares of Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust, Inc. (NASDAQ:WHLR)got a boost, surging 50% to $3.5204.
DatChat, Inc. (NASDAQ:DATS) shares were also up, gaining 45% to $6.18.

Equities Trading DOWN

Leafly Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFLY) shares dropped 48% to $0.7592 after the company announced it received a Nasdaq desliting notice and will transition to the over-the-counter market.
Shares of Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRA) were down 45% to $7.22 after the company issued regulatory and business update on EBVALLOTM (tabelecleucel).
LuxUrban Hotels Inc. (NASDAQ:LUXH) was down, falling 44% to $0.3825. LuxUrban Hotels recently issued FY25 revenue guidance.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $79.58 while gold traded up 1.1% at $2,748.40.

Silver traded up 0.8% to $31.785 on Thursday, while copper rose 0.6% to $4.4155.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 surged 0.9%, Germany's DAX 40 gained 0.4% and France's CAC 40 gained 2.1%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.1%, while London's FTSE 100 gained 1%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.33%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.28%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbing 1.23% and India's BSE Sensex rising 0.42%.

Economics

U.S. retail sales rose 0.4% month-over-month in December versus a revised 0.8% increase in the previous month and down from market estimates of 0.6%.
U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 14,000 from the previous week to 217,000 in the week ending January 11, compared to market estimates of 210,000.
Import prices increased by 0.1% from the previous month in December, while export prices gained by 0.3% in December.
The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index rose to 44.3 in January compared to a revised reading of -10.9 in the previous month.

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