Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Tailored Brands Gains On Upbeat Results; Pier 1 Imports Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.21 percent to 18,487.10 while the NASDAQ declined 0.45 percent to 5,260.40. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.19 percent to 2,182.02.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, energy shares surged by 1.34 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Natural Resource Partners LP NRP, and Texas Pacific Land Trust TPL.

In trading on Thursday, technology shares fell by 0.74 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included QAD Inc. QADB, down 5 percent, and LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) LPL, down 6 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 30 percent to $6.18 after the company reported the purchase of Western State Design for $28 million.

Shares of Tailored Brands Inc TLRD got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $16.92 as the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter on Wednesday.

Verint Systems Inc. VRNT shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $38.18. Verint announced better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Pier 1 Imports Inc PIR shares dropped 15 percent to $4.07 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 17 percent to $69.45 as the company lowered its full-year forecast. Several analysts downgraded the stock following weak outlook.

Gevo, Inc. GEVO was down, falling around 28 percent to $0.505. Gevo priced $15.6 million offering of common stock and warrants.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4.46 percent to $47.53 while gold traded down 0.57 percent to $1,341.50.

Silver traded down 0.85 percent Thursday to $19.68, while copper rose 0.17 percent to $2.10.

Eurozone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.33 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.95 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.48 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.72 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.34 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.18 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.

Crude supplies slipped 14.51 million barrels in the week ended September 2, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a gain of 225,000 barrels. Gasoline supplies dropped 4.21 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles increased 3.38 million barrels.

Natural-gas supplies gained 36 billion cubic feet for the week ended September 2, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a rise of 48 billion cubic feet.

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.