Mid-Day Market Update: Hawaiian Electric Climbs On Merger News; Barnes & Noble Shares Slide

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.16 percent to 17,884.49 while the NASDAQ surged 0.04 percent to 4,776.44. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.15 percent to 2,071.15.

Leading and Lagging Sectors
On Thursday, the utilities sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Hawaiian Electric Industries HE and Enbridge ENB.
In trading on Thursday, energy shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.56 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Baytex Energy BTE, down 11.8 percent, and Penn West Petroleum PWE, off 9.8 percent.

Top Headline
Dollar General DG reported downbeat earnings for the third quarter.
The Goodlettsville, Tennessee-based company posted quarterly net income of $236.3 million, or $0.78 per share, versus $237.4 million, or $0.74 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Its adjusted earnings came in at $0.79 per share.
Its sales gained 7.8% to $4.72 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.80 per share on revenue of $4.75 billion. Its same-store sales gained 2.8% in the quarter.
Equities Trading UP
Array BioPharma ARRY shares shot up 14.58 percent to $4.48 after the company reported that it has regained full worldwide rights to Binimetinib.
Shares of Avago Technologies AVGO got a boost, shooting up 7.75 percent to $102.50 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results. Credit Suisse raised the price target on the stock from $105.00 to $125.00.

Hawaiian Electric Industries HE shares were also up, gaining 15.94 percent to $32.68 after NextEra Energy NEE announced its plans to buy Hawaiian Electric in a transaction valued at approximately $4.3 billion.

Equities Trading DOWN

Gildan Activewear GIL shares tumbled 7.67 percent to $53.80 after the company reported a weaker-than-expected profit for the fourth quarter and issued a weak guidance.
Shares of Barnes & Noble BKS were down 9.55 percent to $20.11 after the company reported weaker-than-expected fiscal second-quarter profit. The company also announced that it is ending its commercial deal with Microsoft MSFT.
Express EXPR was down, falling 9.25 percent to $13.15 after the company cut its forecast for the year.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.34 percent to $66.48, while gold traded up 0.05 percent to $1,209.30.
Silver traded up 1.15 percent Thursday to $16.60, while copper rose 1.36 percent to $2.91.

Euro zone
European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.80 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index slipped 1.63 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 1.80 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.56 percent and the French CAC 40 tumbled 1.11 percent while UK shares fell 0.35 percent.

Economics
US initial jobless claims slipped 17,000 to 297,000 in the week ended November 29. However, economists were expecting claims to total 295,000 in the week.
Announced layoffs slipped to around 36,000 in November, according to data by Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
US natural-gas supplies slipped 22 billion cubic feet for the week ended November 28, according to the Energy Information Administration. However, analysts were estimating a drop of 39 bcf to 43 bcf for the week.
Data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.

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Posted In: EarningsNewsGuidanceEurozoneFuturesCommoditiesContractsLegalGlobalEconomicsIntraday UpdateMarkets
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