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 SectorsUtilities 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.

CommoditiesIn 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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