Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Delta Air Lines Tops Q4 Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.31 percent to 25,448.27 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.19 percent to 7,167.42. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.21 percent to 2,754.02.

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 FuelCell Energy Inc FCEL and W&T Offshore, Inc. WTI.

In trading on Thursday, healthcare shares fell 0.07 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Novavax, Inc. NVAX, down 5 percent, and Insys Therapeutics Inc INSY down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Delta Air said it earned 96 cents per share in the quarter on revenue of $10.25 billion which exceeded Wall Street's expectations for 89 cents per share and $10.17 billion.

Delta lifted its full-year profit forecast to $6.35-$6.70 per share.

Equities Trading UP

New Age Beverages Corp NBEV shares shot up 28 percent to $3.28. The company disclosed that it has commenced shipment of its XingTea portfolio of ready-to-drink teas to CVS Health.

Shares of CounterPath, Corp. CPAH got a boost, shooting up 10 percent to $5.76 after the company disclosed a distribution agreement with Soft Solutions to reach new markets.

Richardson Electronics, Ltd. RELL shares were also up, gaining 14 percent to $7.89 following Q2 results. Richardson Electronics reported Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.01 per share on revenue of $39.1 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Lipocine Inc LPCN shares dropped 43 percent to $1.97 after the company reported the outcome of the FDA Advisory Committee meeting for TLANDO. The company confirmed that the FDA AdCom Panel voted 6 in favor and 13 against the benefit/risk profile of TLANDO.

Shares of SemiLEDs Corporation LEDS were down 25 percent to $4.90. SemiLEDS reported a Q1 loss of $0.11 per share on revenue of $2 million after the closing bell.

Cogint, Inc. COGT was down, falling around 11 percent to $4.85. Cogint named Blockchain industry veteran David Drake as Chairman of Strategic Advisory Board of Blockchain unit.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.39 percent to $63.82 while gold traded up 0.14 percent to $1,321.10.

Silver traded down 0.23 percent Thursday to $16.995, while copper rose 0.26 percent to $3.244.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 tumbled 0.51 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.08 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.40 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.62 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.27 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.09 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims rose 11,000 to 261,000 in the latest week. However, economists expected claims to reach 246,000 last week.

U.S. producer price index dropped 0.1 percent in December. However, the index gained 2.6 percent in the twelve months through December.

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

The Treasury is set to auction 30-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury budget report for December will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.

New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley is set to speak in New York at 3:30 p.m. ET.

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