Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Ralph Lauren Profit Tops Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.78 percent to 18,734.29 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.43 percent to 5,273.56. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.49 percent to 2,173.80.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, financial shares gained by 1.56 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Encore Capital Group, Inc. ECPG, and AEGON N.V. (ADR) AEG.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell by 2.72 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. CWCO, down 10 percent, and Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) SBS, down 9 percent.

Top Headline

Ralph Lauren Corp RL reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter and retained its fiscal 2017 forecast.

Ralph Lauren reported Q2 earnings of $1.90 per share on revenue of $1.82 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.71 per share on revenue of $1.8 billion.

Equities Trading UP

TubeMogul Inc TUBE shares shot up 82 percent to $13.93 after Adobe Systems Incorporated ADBE announced a deal to buy the company for $540 million, net of cash and debt.

Shares of Eleven Biotherapeutics Inc EBIO got a boost, shooting up 25 percent to $2.75 after surging 32.53 percent on Wednesday. Eleven Biotherapeutics is expected to report Q3 financial results on November 14, 2016.

Omeros Corporation OMER shares were also up, gaining 18 percent to $11.92 after the company posted a narrower-than-expected Q3 loss.

Equities Trading DOWN

CPI Card Group Inc PMTS shares dropped 30 percent to $3.55 after the company reported downbeat Q3 results and issued a weak FY16 forecast.

Shares of Sunworks Inc SUNW were down 20 percent to $2.30. Sunworks reported a Q3 loss of $0.29 per share on revenue of $17.6 million.

Avid Technology, Inc. AVID was down, falling around 21 percent to $4.97. Avid reported Q3 net income of $9.1 million on revenue of $119.019 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.59 percent to $44.55 while gold traded up 0.13 percent to $1,275.20.

Silver traded up 1.18 percent Thursday to $18.60, while copper rose 2.85 percent to $2.53.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.32 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.09 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.61 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.48 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.63 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.47 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims declined by 11,000 to 254,000 for the latest week. Economists were expecting claims to reach 260,000 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 Treasury budget data for October is schedule for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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