Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Cardinal Health Tops Q1 Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.13 percent to 26,146.98 while the NASDAQ declined 0.48 percent to 7,534.09. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.31 percent to 2,804.71.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, the financial shares climbed 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Owens Realty Mortgage Inc ORM up 27 percent, and Mr. Cooper Group Inc COOP up 8 percent.

In trading on Thursday, communication services shares fell 1 percent.

Top Headline

Cardinal Health Inc CAH reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fiscal first quarter.

Cardinal Health reported earnings of $1.29 per share, beating estimates of $1.08. Total revenue came in at $35.2 billion, which exceeded estimates of $33.65 billion.

Cardinal Health reaffirmed its FY19 adjusted earnings forecast of $4.90 to $5.15 per share and reported a $1 billion buyback plan.

Equities Trading UP

NantKwest, Inc. NK shares shot up 29 percent to $3.49. Releasing the first human clinical trial results of its cancer vaccine, Nantkwest said all 30 patients with advanced metastatic cancer refractory to multiple previous therapies receiving NK cell fusion and novel cancer memory vaccine reported zero incidence of cytokinase release syndrome. In highly refractory late-stage advanced metastatic pancreatic cancer about 90 percent disease control was achieved, with median overall survival of 9.5 months or greater, while 80 percent disease control was achieved in highly refractory late-stage advanced metastatic triple negative breast cancer.

Shares of Owens Realty Mortgage, Inc. ORM got a boost, shooting up 27 percent to $18.9850. Ready Capital announced a merger with Owens Realty Mortgage in an all-stock deal.

Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc PTLA shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $22.8075 following upbeat Q3 earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Achaogen, Inc. AKAO shares dropped 30 percent to $2.17 following Q3 results. Achaogen posted a Q3 loss of $1.02 per share on sales of $2 million.

Shares of AeroCentury Corp. ACY were down 24 percent to $10.69 after the company reported Q3 results. AeroCentury reported a Q3 loss of $3.16 per share on sales of $7.17 million.

Talend S.A. TLND was down, falling around 28 percent to $45.19 after the company reported downbeat Q3 results and announced plans to purchase Stitch for $60 million in cash.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.02 percent to $61.68 while gold traded down 0.25 percent to $1,225.60.

Silver traded down 0.4 percent Thursday to $14.51, while copper fell 1.25 percent to $2.72.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.32 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.22 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.46 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.1 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.03 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.49 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims fell 1,000 to 214,000 in the week ended November 3. However, economists projected a 214,000 reading.

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 Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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