Mid-Day Market Update: Alcoa Drops On Earnings Miss; SPI Energy Shares Surge

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.20 percent to 26,064.56 while the NASDAQ declined 0.06 percent to 7,293.93. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.11 percent to 2,799.62.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, the telecommunications services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) TKC and Internet Gold Golden Lines Ltd IGLD.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 0.53 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included NRG Energy Inc NRG, down 3 percent, and Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) KEP down 2 percent.

Top Headline

Morgan Stanley MS reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

Morgan Stanley posted adjusted earnings of $0.84 per share in the quarter on revenue of $9.50 billion which exceeded Wall Street's expectations for $0.77 per share and $9.19 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Spi Energy Co Ltd (ADR) SPI shares shot up 40 percent to $1.21 after the company disclosed a strategic partnership with Hoofoo Inc., the hack-proof cryptocurrency hardware wallet.

Shares of Live Ventures Inc LIVE got a boost, shooting up 23 percent to $17.93. Live Ventures reported FY 2017 adjusted earnings of $2.94 per share on revenue of $152 million.

GNC Holdings Inc GNC shares were also up, gaining 37 percent to $4.73 after the company issued a strong earnings forecast for the fourth quarter. The company’s Q4 same store sales rose 5.7 percent.

Equities Trading DOWN

Innovative Industrial Properties Inc IIPR shares dropped 13 percent to $27.09. Innovative Industrial Properties priced 2.8 million share common stock offering at $26 per share for gross proceeds of $72.8 million.

Shares of Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc DFFN were down 39 percent to $0.680 after the company reported a $12 million underwritten public offering.

Alcoa Corp AA was down, falling around 7 percent to $52.72 after the company reported weaker-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Wednesday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.39 percent to $63.72 while gold traded down 0.55 percent to $1,331.80.

Silver traded down 0.53 percent Thursday to $17.075, while copper rose 0.52 percent to $3.2055.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.06 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index slipped 0.47 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.10 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.32 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.26 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.43 percent.

Economics

U.S. housing starts slipped 8.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.19 million in December. However, economists were estimating a 1.27 million rate.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index declined to 22.20 in January, versus a prior reading of 27.90. Economists expected a reading of 25.00.

U.S. initial jobless claims dropped 41,000 to 220,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 250,000 last week.

Domestic supplies of natural gas dropped 183 billion cubic feet for the latest week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a decline of 199 billion cubic feet.

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

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester is set to speak in New York at 6:05 p.m. ET.