Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; Tiffany Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.07 percent to 18,467.75 while the NASDAQ declined 0.05 percent to 5,215.21. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.08 percent to 2,173.71.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, basic materials shares gained by 0.36 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included AEP Industries AEPI, and Stillwater Mining Company SWC.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell by 0.17 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. JKS, down 7 percent, and Resolute Energy Corp REN, down 3 percent.

Top Headline

Tiffany & Co. TIF reported mixed results for the second quarter. While its earnings came in above the estimates, sales missed expectations. The company maintained its full year revenue and EPS forecast.

The company reported net earnings of $106 million, or $0.84 a share, up 1 percent from $105 million, or $0.81 a share, in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, earnings would have dipped 5 percent from $111 million, or $0.86 a share. However, earnings topped by $0.12 a share from the Street analysts' expectations of $0.72.

Tiffany's worldwide net sales fell 6 percent to $932 million thus missing analysts' predictions of $934.74 million. Its comparable store sales witnessed 8 percent drop in the second quarter.

Equities Trading UP

AEP Industries AEPI shares shot up 41 percent to $108.45. Berry Plastics Group, Inc. BERY and AEP Industries reached a definitive deal by which the former would buy the latter in a cash and stock transaction worth about $765 million.

Shares of Guess?, Inc. GES got a boost, shooting up 21 percent to $18.07 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 earnings and raised earnings forecast for FY 2017. However, the company missed analysts’ sales estimates.

Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation NYMX shares were also up, gaining 26 percent to $5.62 after the company posted successful new long-term fexapotide placebo crossover study results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Movado Group, Inc MOV shares dropped 12 percent to $20.91 after the company reported downbeat results for its second quarter and issued a weak outlook for the full year.

Shares of Dollar General Corp. DG were down 12 percent to $81.00 as the company posted weak quarterly results.

Signet Jewelers Ltd. SIG was down, falling around 13 percent to $82.88 after the company posted worse than expected results for the second quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.28 percent to $46.64 while gold traded down 0.42 percent to $1,324.10.

Silver traded down 0.26 percent Thursday to $18.64, while copper rose 0.19 percent to $2.09.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.96 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.71 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 1.06 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 1.08 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.87 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.36 percent.

Economics

U.S. durable-goods orders rose 4.4 percent in July, versus economists’ expectations for a 3.3 percent growth.

U.S. jobless claims dropped 1,000 to 261,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting initial jobless claims to reach 265,000 in the week.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for August is schedule for release at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Treasury will also auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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