Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up 1.5%; Applied Optoelectronics Shares Soar On Raised Guidance

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.38 percent to 19,879.22 while the NASDAQ declined 0.44 percent to 5,539.14. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.29 percent to 2,268.62.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained around 0.42 percent in trading on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, technology shares fell by 0.60 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Numerex Corp. NMRX, down 7 percent, and Insight Enterprises, Inc. NSIT, down 12 percent.

Top Headline

Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL reported in-line earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales exceeded expectations.

Delta Air Lines posted Q4 earnings of $0.82 per share on revenue of $9.46 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.82 per share on revenue of $9.40 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Applied Optoelectronics Inc AAOI shares shot up 33 percent to $30.19 after the company raised its guidance for the fourth quarter. The company now projects adjusted earnings of $0.77 to $0.82 per share, on revenue of $84.5 million to $84.8 million.

Shares of Transgenomic Inc TBIO got a boost, shooting up 233 percent to $0.942 after the company reported a licensing agreement with LifeLabs.

Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. - American Depositary Shares APOP shares were also up, gaining 135 percent to $7.79 after the company disclosed that it has received a notice of allowance from the US Patent Office protecting its technology in multiple key indications.

Equities Trading DOWN

DragonWave, Inc.(USA) DRWI shares dropped 19 percent to $2.35. DragonWave reported a Q3 loss of $0.72 per share on revenue of $10.2 million.

Shares of Vista Outdoor Inc VSTO were down around 25 percent to $28.45. Vista Outdoor projects a non-cash intangible asset impairment charge in its Hunting and Shooting Accessories reporting unit for the third quarter.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV FCAU was down, falling around 16 percent to $9.29. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accused engine-consumer Fiat Chrysler of allowing excess diesel emissions in 104,000 vehicles.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.53 percent to $53.87 while gold traded up 0.20 percent to $1,199.00.

Silver traded up 0.13 percent Thursday to $16.85, while copper rose 2.26 percent to $2.67.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.65 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index declined 0.01 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 1.69 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 1.07 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.51 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.03 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims gained 10,000 to 247,000 in the latest week. However, economists projected claims to reach 255,000 in the week.

The import price index rose 0.4 percent in December, while export prices increased 0.3 percent in the month.

Supplies of natural gas dropped 151 billion cubic feet for the week ended January 6, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a fall of 144 billion cubic feet.

The U.S. government reported a budget deficit of $28 billion in December, versus a deficit of $14 billion in the year-ago period, the Treasury Department reported. However, analysts were expecting a $25 billion deficit for December.

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

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is set to speak in Washington, D.C. at 7:00 p.m. ET.