Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Navistar Posts Wider Loss

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.36 percent to 18,458.82 while the NASDAQ declined 0.51 percent to 5,257.00. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.32 percent to 2,179.16.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, energy shares surged by 0.44 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Yanzhou Coal Mining Co Ltd (ADR) YZC, and Westmoreland Coal Company WLB.

In trading on Thursday, technology shares fell by 0.64 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included TiVo Inc. TIVO, down 6 percent, and LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) LPL, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Navistar International Corp NAV posted weaker-than-expected Q3 earnings and disclosed that its unit, Navistar Defense LLC, received a subpoena from the U.S. defense department.

Navistar posted a quarterly net loss of $34 million, or $0.42 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $28 million, or $0.34 per share.

Its revenue slipped 17.7 percent to $2.09 billion. Analysts were projecting earnings of $0.14 per share on revenue of $2.18 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Envirostar Inc EVI shares shot up 43 percent to $6.82 after the company reported the purchase of Western State Design for $28 million.

Shares of Sky Solar Holdings Ltd (ADR) SKYS got a boost, shooting up 14 percent to $3.50 as the company delivered better than expected results for the second quarter.

Repros Therapeutics Inc RPRX shares were also up, gaining 18 percent to $2.25 after the company announced positive results from its Phase 2 study evaluating Proellex (telapristone acetate) for severe endometriosis-related pain in premenopausal women.

Equities Trading DOWN

Pier 1 Imports Inc PIR shares dropped 17 percent to $4.01 after the company reported weak preliminary results for its second quarter. The company also announced that its Alex Smith will step down as CEO at the end of the year. Credit Suisse downgraded Pier 1 Imports from Neutral to Underperform, while Oppenheimer downgraded the stock from Outperform to Perform.

Shares of Tractor Supply Company TSCO were down 16 percent to $70.43 as the company lowered its full-year forecast. Several analysts downgraded the stock following weak outlook.

Barnes & Noble Education Inc BNED was down, falling around 9 percent to $11.11. Barnes & Noble Education reported Q1 adjusted loss of $25.9 million on sales of $239.2 million. Comparable store sales dropped 2.8 percent in the quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.82 percent to $46.33 while gold traded down 0.10 percent to $1,347.80.

Silver traded up 0.11 percent Thursday to $19.87, while copper fell 0.21 percent to $2.09.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.13 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.77 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 1.45 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 1.29 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.07 percent.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims declined 4,000 to 259,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 265,000 reading 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 EIA’s weekly report on petroleum inventories will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Data on consumer credit for July will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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