Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NCI Building Drops On Downbeat Results; GoPro Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.17 percent to 21,770.76 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.07 percent to 6,397.86. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.07 percent to 2,463.73.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, the healthcare shares surged 0.99 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NewLink Genetics Corp NLNK, up 48 percent, and BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. BCRX, up 18 percent.

In trading on Thursday, telecommunications services shares fell 0.87 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Comcast Corporation CMCSA, down 6 percent, and United States Cellular Corp USM down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Conn's Inc CONN reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Conn's reported a Q2 adjusted profit of $0.26 per share on revenue of $366.6 million. However, analysts were expecting a loss at $0.02 per share on revenue of $371.91 million.

Equities Trading UP

RH RH shares shot up 43 percent to $70.66 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised its FY2017 outlook.

Shares of NewLink Genetics Corp NLNK got a boost, shooting up 42 percent to $11.09 after the company offered updated data for indoximod plus KEYTRUDA. The updated data showed improvement of response rate for patients in advanced melanoma.

Verona Pharma plc VRNA shares were also up, gaining 26 percent to $15.29 after the company disclosed positive top-line data from Phase 2a clinical trial in COPD with RPL554 dosed in addition to tiotropium.

GoPro Inc GPRO shares rose 13 percent to $10.10. The company said that it expects its third quarter revenue and guidance to come in at the higher end of its prior guidance. On top of that, the company said that it expects to be profitable in the third quarter on a non-GAAP basis although not profitable on a GAAP basis.

Equities Trading DOWN

NCI Building Systems Inc NCS shares dropped 21 percent to $13.35 after the company reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results.

Shares of Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. APOP were down 13 percent to $8.49. Cellect Biotechnology reported a $4.3 million raise in a registered direct offering.

Airgain Inc AIRG was down, falling around 16 percent to $9.08 after the company issued sales growth forecast. Airgain expects FY17 sales growth of 12percent to 15 percent. It also projects 20 percent+ sales growth for FY18.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.10 percent to $49.11 while gold traded up 0.82 percent to $1,350.00.

Silver traded up 1.14 percent Thursday to $18.115, while copper fell 0.27 percent to $3.143.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.27 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.06 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.42 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.67 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.26 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.58 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims rose 62,000 to 298,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 241,000 last week.

U.S. nonfarm productivity rose 1.50 percent for the second quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.30 percent growth.

Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 65 billion cubic feet for the week ended September 1, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 64 billion cubic feet.

Domestic crude supplies rose 4.58 million barrels for the latest week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were estimating a gain of 4.02 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles fell 3.2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 1.4 million barrels last week.

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

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic will speak in Atlanta at 7:00 p.m. ET.

President Federal Reserve Bank of New York William Dudley is set to speak in New York at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George will speak in Omaha at 8:15 p.m. ET.