Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Dollar General Tops Q2 Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.40 percent to 21,979.53 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.57 percent to 6,404.65. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.50 percent to 2,469.79.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the healthcare shares climbed by 0.96 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Impax Laboratories Inc IPXL, up 19 percent, and MannKind Corporation MNKD, up 14 percent.

In trading on Thursday, telecommunications services shares rose by just 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Telecom Argentina SA (ADR) TEO, down 2 percent, and KT Corp (ADR) KT down 1.5 percent.

Top Headline

Dollar General Corp. DG reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Dollar General posted quarterly earnings of $1.10 per share on revenue of $5.83 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.09 per share on revenue of $5.8 billion.

Dollar General now expects FY17 GAAP earnings of $4.35 to $4.50 per share, versus earlier forecast of $4.25 to $4.50 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Shoe Carnival, Inc. SCVL shares shot up 24 percent to $20.40 as the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter on Wednesday.

Shares of Nano Dimension Ltd - ADR NNDM got a boost, shooting up 8 percent to $4.43 after the company reported a collaboration with CAD MicroSolutions to distribute 3D printer to Canada.

Exfo Inc EXFO shares were also up, gaining 6 percent to $4.25 after the company disclosed an agreement to acquire a 33.1 percent stake in Astellia for €8.6 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Steadymed Ltd STDY shares dropped 42 percent to $3.45 after the company disclosed that it has received a Refusal To File letter from the FDA related to Trevyent NDA.

Shares of DryShips Inc. DRYS were down 11 percent to $2.70 on news of SEC subpoena. A subpoena from the SEC is requesting certain documents and information related to offerings made by the company between June 2016 and July 2017. Dryships stated it has delivered the requested information to the SEC.

Ciena Corporation CIEN was down, falling around 11 percent to $21.53. Ciena posted better-than-expected Q3 results, but issued a weak sales forecast for the current quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.15 percent to $46.03 while gold traded down 0.19 percent to $1,311.60.

Silver traded down 0.42 percent Thursday to $17.43, while copper rose 0.70 percent to $3.1085.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.80 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.82 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.98 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.64 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.73 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.69 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims increased 1,000 to 236,000 last week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 237,000 last week.

Consumer spending increased 0.3 percent in July, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent gain. Personal income gained 0.40 percent last month, compared to economists’ estimates of 0.30 percent growth.

The Chicago PMI held steady at 58.9 for August, versus economists’ estimates for a reading of 58.5.

The pending home sales index declined 0.8 percent for July. However, economists were expecting a 0.5 percent growth.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks is schedule for release at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Farmers Branch, Texas at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Data on money supply for the latest week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.