Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Down Over 250 Points; Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 1.07 percent to 24,404.07 while the NASDAQ declined 0.21 percent to 7,447.13. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.54 percent to 2,709.33.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, the information technology shares surged 0.29 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Keysight Technologies, Inc. KEYS, up 12 percent, and Datawatch Corporation DWCH up 6 percent.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares fell 1.54 percent.

Top Headline

Dollar General Corporation DG reported weaker-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Dollar General posted adjusted earnings of $1.36 per share on revenue of $6.114 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.40 per share on revenue of $6.2 billion. Its same-store growth rose 2.1 percent in the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. MDGL shares shot up 127 percent to $245.98 in reaction to an encouraging Phase 2 clinical trial update. The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company said its liver-directed, thyroid hormone receptor called MGL-3196 showed a statistical significance in the primary endpoint of lowering liver fat at 12 weeks and also 36 weeks.

Shares of Akers Biosciences, Inc. AKER got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $0.415. The developer of rapid health information technologies said Wednesday afternoon it was granted a 180-day extension from the Nasdaq Stock Market to meet the requirement of a minimum $1.00 per share closing bid price for 10 straight days.

J.Jill, Inc. JILL shares were also up, gaining 18 percent to $7.31 after the company posted upbeat quarterly earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

scPharmaceuticals Inc. SCPH shares dropped 30 percent to $9.91 after the FDA identified deficiencies in the company’s New Drug Application for FUROSCIX. However, the FDA letter did not specify deficiencies identified and notification does not reflect final decision on information under review.

Shares of Euroseas Ltd. ESEA were down 25 percent to $1.830. Euroseas announced completion of the spin-off of its drybulk fleet into EuroDry Ltd.

Quantum Corporation QTM was down, falling around 20 percent to $2.76. Quantum appointed J. Michael Dodson as Chief Financial Officer and interim CEO, effective May 31. Lake Street downgraded Quantum from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $6 to $4.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5 percent to $67.19 while gold traded up 0.19 percent to $1,309.00.

Silver traded up 0.07 percent Thursday to $16.555, while copper rose 0.13 to $3.073.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.43 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.28 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.64 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 1.29 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.54 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.14 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims fell 13,000 to 221,000 in the latest week. However, economists were projecting a 225,000 reading.

Consumer spending rose 0.6 percent in April, versus a revised 0.5 percent increase in March. Economists were expecting a 0.4 percent rise.

The Chicago PMI rose 5.1 points to a reading of 62.7 in May..

U.S. pending home sales declined 1.3 percent to 106.4 for April.

Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 96 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 25, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts expected a gain of 102 billion cubic feet.

Fed Governor Lael Brainard will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 8:30 p.m. ET.