Healthcare stocks rose late Thursday afternoon, with the NYSE Healthcare Index and the State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) each adding 1.3%.
The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) climbed 1.5%.
In corporate news, AstraZeneca's (AZN) durvalumab, plus Bacillus Calmette-Guerin, received approval by the Food and Drug Administration to treat adults with BCG-naive, high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, the FDA said Thursday. AstraZeneca shares rose 0.1%.
Consumer stocks were mixed late Thursday afternoon, with the State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP) decreasing 0.2% and the State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) adding 0.2%.In corporate news, Burlington Stores (BURL) increased its full-year outlook Thursday, but its guidance for the ongoing quarter indicated a sequential slowdown in comparable sales growth. Its shares fell 10%.
Tech stocks rose late Thursday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) gaining 1.4% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) adding 1.7%.The Philadelphia Semiconductor index climbed 1.4%.In corporate news, Microsoft (MSFT) is slated to release a suite of new homegrown AI models next week at its Build conference in San Francisco, The Information reported. It will unveil a coding model aimed at boosting the competitiveness of Microsoft-owned GitHub Copilot, the report said. Shares were up over 3%.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil closed with a small gain on Thursday but fell off early highs following reports s the United States and Iran agreed to extend their ceasefire even as they earlier traded strikesWTI crude oil for July delivery up US$0.22 to settle at US$US$88.90 per barrel after earlier touching US$92.52. July Brent oil was last seen down US$0.64 to US$93.65.The drop off session highs came after Axios reported the two countries will extend their ceasefire agreement. The potential deal comes despite earlier reports U.S. forces attacked a drone-control base in Iran and shot down Iranian drones, while Kuwait intercepted an Iranian missile and Iran attacked commercial shipping in the Persian GulfOil prices have climbed by half since Iran closed the Strait of Homuz on the Feb. 28 start to the war, blocking much of the 20% of daily oil demand supplied by Persian Gulf nations.In its weekly survey the Energy Information Administration reported U.S. commercial oil inventories fell by 3.3-million barrels last week, while the consensus estimate among analysts polled by Reuters expected a 4.1-million barrel drop.