Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; General Motors Profit Beats Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.21 percent to 18,555.55 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.05 percent to 5,092.70. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.07 percent to 2,171.49.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, basic materials shares climbed by 0.92 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Joy Global Inc. JOY and Coeur Mining Inc CDE.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell by 0.18 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Empresa Distribuidora y Cmrz Nrt SA(ADR) EDN, down 3 percent, and RGC Resources Inc. RGCO, down 2 percent.

Top Headline

General Motors Company GM reported better-than-expected profit for the second quarter and raised its forecast for full.

General Motors projects 2016 adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $5.50 to $6.00 per share, versus prior forecast of $5.25 to $5.75 per share.

The company’s quarterly net income increased to $2.87 billion, or $1.81 per share, compared to $1.1 billion, or $0.67 per share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding items, GM earned $1.86 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.52 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Relypsa Inc RLYP shares shot up 59 percent to $31.86 after Galenica agreed to acquire Relypsa for $1.53 billion in cash.

Shares of Joy Global Inc. JOY got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $27.65 after Komatsu Ltd. agreed to acquire the company for around $2.9 billion.

United Rentals, Inc. URI shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $77.26 after the company posted upbeat Q2 earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Essendant Inc ESND shares dropped 31 percent to $22.40. Essendant posted Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.55 per share on revenue of $1.35 billion.

Shares of Sunshine Heart Inc SSH were down 21 percent to $1.07 after the company reported an agreement with single investor for offering of convertible preferred stock with proceeds of $3.46 million.

Southwest Airlines Co LUV was down, falling around 10 percent to $37.81 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q2 earnings and announced plans to buy back $250 million in common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.57 percent to $45.49 while gold traded down 0.05 percent to $1,318.70.

Silver traded down 1.06 percent Thursday to $19.41, while copper rose 0.31 percent to $2.26.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.32 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.09 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.25 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.10 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.33 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.40 percent.

Economics

U.S. jobless claims declined 1,000 to 253,000 in the latest week. Economists were projecting initial jobless claims to reach 265,000 in the week.

The Philadelphia Fed general conditions index slipped to negative 2.9 in July, versus positive 4.7 in June. However, economists were expecting a reading of 5.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index rose to 0.16 in June, versus a prior reading of -0.51.

Existing-home sales increased 1.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.57 million in June. However, economists were expecting a 5.48 million rate.

The index of leading indicators rose 0.30 percent in June, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.20 percent growth.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

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