Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Walmart Profit Tops Expectations

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.57 percent to 24,938.48 while the NASDAQ declined 0.22 percent to 7,120.69. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.57 percent to 2,686.09.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the information technology shares climbed 0.35 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Switch Inc SWCH up 13 percent, and Pixelworks, Inc. PXLW up 6 percent.

In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary shares fell 2.1 percent.

Top Headline

Walmart Inc WMT reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter and raised its full-year earnings outlook.

Walmart posted Q3 earnings of $1.08 per share on total revenue, excluding currency changes, of $126.1 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.01 per share on sales of $125.44 billion.

Walmart now expects FY19 adjusted earnings of $4.75 to $4.85 per share, versus prior forecast of $4.65 to $4.80 per share.

 

Equities Trading UP

uniQure N.V. QURE shares shot up 32 percent to $30.17 after the company issued initial top-line data from dose-combo study of AMT-061 in patients with Hemophilia B.

Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ARNA got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $41.6050 after the company and United Therapeutics reported a global license deal for Ralinepag.

Smart & Final Stores, Inc. SFS shares were also up, gaining 23 percent to $6.10 after the company reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter and raised its FY18 earnings guidance.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

Remark Holdings, Inc. MARK shares dropped 42 percent to $1.905 following news of default event, reduced guidance and evaluation of strategic alternatives by the company's Board.

Shares of Akers Biosciences, Inc. AKER were down 24 percent to $1.7287 after the company reported Q3 results.

Pyxis Tankers Inc. PXS was down, falling around 30 percent to $1.43 after 'disappointing' Q3 results, 'lower exports out of US Gulf,' according to Chair, CEO Valentios Valentis.

 

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3 percent to $56.42 while gold traded up 0.05 percent to $1,210.70.

Silver traded up 0.25 percent Thursday to $14.115, while copper rose 1.07 percent to $2.739.

 

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.48 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.15 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.5 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.22 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.27 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.17 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims rose 2,000 to 216,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a 216,000 reading.

The Philly Fed manufacturing index declined 9.3 points to a reading of 12.9 in November.

U.S. retail sales rose 0.8 percent for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.6 percent increase.

The Empire State manufacturing index climbed 2.2 points to a reading of 23.3 for November.

U.S. import prices rose 0.5 percent for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1 percent gain.

U.S. business inventories rose 0.3 percent for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent increase.

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 EIA’s weekly report on petroleum inventories will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will speak in Houston, TX at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Madrid, Spain at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in Minneapolis, MN at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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