Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Jump; Family Dollar Profit Misses Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 1.42 percent to 17,833.73 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.43 percent to 4,717.10. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.38 percent to 2,053.87.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the energy sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from PHI Inc. PHII and Teekay Tankers Ltd. TNK.
In trading on Thursday, utilities shares rose by just 0.8 percent. Top decliners in the sector included Korea Electric Power Corp KEP, down 1.8 percent, and Atlantic Power Corp AT, off 1.1 percent.

Top Headline

Family Dollar Stores Inc. FDO reported weaker-than-expected results for the its fiscal first quarter.
The Matthews, North Carolina-based company posted quarterly net income of $41.4 million, or $0.36 per share, compared to $78.0 million, or $0.68 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding fees related to the pending merger with Dollar Tree, the company earned $0.44 per share.
Its sales climbed 2.3% to $2.56 billion from $2.50 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.62 per share on revenue of $2.57 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. NBIX shares shot up 23.40 percent to $27.00 after AbbVie Inc. ABBV, in cooperation with Neurocrine Biosciences, announces positive top-line results from Phase 3 study of investigational medicine elagolix.
Shares of PDF Solutions Inc. PDFS got a boost, shooting up 28.81 percent to $17.49 after the company reported the signing of two contracts and related effects on expected revenues.

Conns Inc. CONN shares were also up, gaining 14.92 percent to $20.72 after the company reported an 11.5% rise in its December net sales.

Equities Trading DOWN

Apollo Education Group, Inc. APOL shares tumbled 13.62 percent to $27.52 after the company posted downbeat quarterly revenue and lowered its 2015 outlook. However, the company reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter.
Shares of Insulet Corporation PODD were down 10.29 percent to $39.95 after the company lowered its FY2014 sales guidance.
Stemline Therapeutics, Inc. STML was down, falling 9.83 percent to $15.78 after the company priced $59.85 million public offering of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.27 percent to $48.78, while gold traded up 0.44 percent to $1,216.00.
Silver traded up 0.61 percent Thursday to $16.65, while copper rose 0.56 percent to $2.77.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 2.08 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 1.90 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 2.38 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 2.05 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 2.69 percent while UK shares jumped 1.97 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims slipped by 4,000 to 294,000 in the week ended January 3. However, analysts were expecting claims to reach 290,000 in the week.
Data on consumer credit for November will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.