Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Jumps Over 250 Points; Novavax Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 1.43 percent to 18,854.99 while the NASDAQ declined 0.35 percent to 5,232.46. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.57 percent to 2,175.52.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, financial shares gained by 1.82 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Encore Capital Group, Inc. ECPG, and Walter Investment Management Corp WAC.

In trading on Thursday, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares fell by 2.17 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Cosan Ltd (USA) CZZ, down 12 percent, and Lifeway Foods, Inc. LWAY, down 12 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 81 percent to $13.91 after Adobe Systems Incorporated ADBE announced a deal to buy the company for $540 million, net of cash and debt.

Shares of Encore Capital Group, Inc. ECPG got a boost, shooting up 33 percent to $25.75. Encore Capital posted Q3 GAAP loss from continuing operations of $1.5 million, or $0.06 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $13.2 million, or $0.52 per share.

DryShips Inc. DRYS shares were also up, gaining 128 percent to $11.62. DryShips reported a Q3 loss of $7.70 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

CPI Card Group Inc PMTS shares dropped 35 percent to $3.30 after the company reported downbeat Q3 results and issued a weak FY16 forecast.

Shares of Anthera Pharmaceuticals Inc ANTH were down 30 percent to $1.94 following failure of SLE trial to meet primary endpoint.

Novavax, Inc. NVAX was down, falling around 18 percent to $1.40. Novavax reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its third quarter, while revenue missed expectations. Management announced a corporate restructuring and cost savings plan. Novavax plans to reduce 30 percent of its workforce. The plan is expected to result in savings of $70 million to $100 million in 2017.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.97 percent to $44.83 while gold traded down 0.57 percent to $1,266.30.

Silver traded up 1.81 percent Thursday to $18.71, while copper rose 3.52 percent to $2.55.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.27 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 1.63 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.03 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.15 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.28 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.21 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.

Supplies of natural gas climbed 54 billion cubic feet for the week ended November 4, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a gain of 51 billion cubic foot.

The U.S. government reported a budget deficit of $44 billion in October, down 68 percent from the year-ago period, the Treasury Department reported. Analysts were expecting a deficit of $80 billion.

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