Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls 180 Points; Stage Stores Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.82 percent to 21,844.22 while the NASDAQ declined 1.28 percent to 6,263.58. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.98 percent to 2,443.82.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares rose by 0.02 percent.

In trading on Thursday, technology shares fell by 1.28 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included NetApp Inc. NTAP, down 6 percent, and Quantum Corp QTM down 7 percent.

Top Headline

Wal-Mart Stores Inc WMT reported stronger-than-expected results for its second-quarter.

Wal-Mart said it earned $1.08 per share in the quarter on revenue of $123.4 billion. Analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.07 per share on revenue of $122.8 billion.

Looking forward, Walmart guided its third-quarter earnings per share to be in a range of 90–98 cents while analysts were modeling the company to earn 98 cents per share. For the full fiscal year 2018, the company guided its earnings per share to be $4.30–$4.40 versus expectations of $4.37 per share.


Equities Trading UP

Zoe's Kitchen Inc ZOES shares shot up 10 percent to $13.44. Telsey Advisory Group upgraded Zoe's Kitchen from Market Perform to Outperform.

Shares of Stage Stores Inc SSI got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $1.91. Stage Stores reported Q2 adjusted loss of $0.15 per share on sales of $377.1 million. The company raised its FY 17 guidance and declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 cents per share.

Myovant Sciences Ltd MYOV shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $11.88. Evercore ISI Group initiated coverage on Myovant Sciences with an Outperform rating and a $35.00 price target.


Equities Trading DOWN

Briggs & Stratton Corporation BGG shares dropped 14 percent to $20.73 after the company reported downbeat results for its fourth quarter and issued a weak forecast for the full year.

Shares of L Brands Inc LB were down 10 percent to $35.74. L Brands reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter, but lowered its profit outlook for the full year.

Netlist, Inc. NLST was down, falling around 31 percent to $0.590. Netlist priced 8.5 million shares at $0.60 per share.


Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.58 percent to $47.05 while gold traded up 0.67 percent to $1,291.50.

Silver traded up 0.56 percent Thursday to $17.035, while copper fell 0.58 percent to $2.9365.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.59 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.95 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.89 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.49 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.57 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.61 percent.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims declined 12,000 to 232,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 240,000 last week.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index dropped to 18.90 for August, versus a prior reading of 19.50. Economists projected a reading of 18.50.

U.S. industrial production rose 0.2 percent for July, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent growth.

The index of leading economic indicators gained 0.3 percent for July.

Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 53 billion cubic feet for the week ended August 11, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a gain of 47 billion cubic feet.

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

Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Afternoon Market Update
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