Afternoon Market Update

Natural-gas futures moved down after the Energy Information Administration (

) report showed an increase in reserves. The EIA reported that the stockpiles have increased by 78 billion cubic feet for the week ended July 2, exceeding the expectations of a rise of 70-74 billion cubic feet. Natural gas for August delivery was down by 2.7%, to $4.44 per million British thermal units. Gold futures dropped below the key level of $1,200 after turning into the negative territory in recent trading. Gold plunged into the red after the Labor Department report reflected a fall of 21,000 in the number of people filing initial claims for unemployment benefits in the recent week. The positive data improved investor sentiments and improved their risk appetite. Following the report, Gold for August delivery dropped 0.5% to $1,193.2 an ounce on the Comex division. Drug makers’ shares moved up, with Onyx Pharmaceuticals

as the top gainer in the list. Shares of ONXX gained more than 3% after the analysts at BMO Capital upgraded the company from “market perform” to “outperform.” The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) rose 0.27% and the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index (BTK) moved up 0.39%. Read more