Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Verizon Posts Mixed Q3 Results

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.14 percent to 18,227.86 while the NASDAQ rose 0.01 percent to 5,247.06. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.05 percent to 2,145.25.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, healthcare shares gained by 0.43 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. BCRX, and Flamel Technologies S.A. (ADR) FLML.

In trading on Thursday, telecommunications services shares fell by 0.97 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc CNSL, down 6 percent, and Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, down 3 percent.

Top Headline

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ reported mixed results in the third quarter. While adjusted earnings came in above estimates, revenue missed.

The telecom service firm reported net income of $3.75 billion, or $0.89 a share, on revenue of $30.94 billion. On a Non-GAAP basis, its earnings would have been $1.01 thus beating the estimates of $0.99 a share while missing revenue expectations of $31.09 billion.

In the previous year quarter, Verizon earned a profit of $4.17 billion, or $0.99 a share, on revenue of $33.16 billion.

The company added 442,000 retail postpaid net additions that included 357,000 new 4G LTE smartphones. In the wireline segment, the company added 90,000 Fios Internet net additions and 36,000 Fios Video net additions.

Equities Trading UP

DragonWave, Inc.(USA) DRWI shares shot up 41 percent to $3.12 after the company disclosed that it has been selected to supply Sprint with microwave backhaul equipment.

Shares of Skypeople Fruit Juice Inc SPU got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $7.70. SkyPeople disclosed that its request for an appeal hearing is affirmed by the Nasdaq.

SunCoke Energy Inc SXC shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $9.02. SunCoke posted Q3 net earnings of $0.10 per share on revenue of $293.9 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. RIGL shares dropped 32 percent to $2.19 after the company reported results from the second FIT Phase 3 study for fostamatinib. The company disclosed that the study did not meet primary endpoint.

Shares of Insteel Industries Inc IIIN were down 17 percent to $26.89 following Q4 results. Insteel Industries posted Q4 earnings of $0.51 per share on revenue of $103.1 million.

Organovo Holdings Inc ONVO was down, falling around 19 percent to $2.83 after the company reported an offering of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.03 percent to $50.77 while gold traded up 0.17 percent to $1,272.10.

Silver traded up 0.01 percent Thursday to $17.67, while copper fell 0.31 percent to $2.10.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.41 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.54 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.20 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.05 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.14 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.32 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims rose 13,000 to 260,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 250,000 in the week.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index declined to 9.7 in October, compared to 12.8 in September. Economists projected a reading of 5.30 for the month.

Existing home sales rose 3.2 percent in September to an annual rate of 5.47 million. However, economists were expecting a 0.4 percent growth in September.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.2 percent for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent growth.

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

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

New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley is set to speak in New York at 4:45 p.m. ET.