Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Hormel Foods Profit Misses Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.20 percent to 20,814.87 while the NASDAQ declined 0.17 percent to 5,850.58. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.15 percent to 2,366.29.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed by 0.80 percent in trading on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Unit Corporation UNT, and Continental Resources, Inc. CLR.

In trading on Thursday, technology shares fell by 0.04 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included InterDigital, Inc. IDCC, down 14 percent, and BroadSoft Inc BSFT, down 9 percent.

Top Headline

Hormel Foods Corp HRL reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its first quarter and lowered its forecast.

Hormel Foods posted Q1 earnings of $0.44 per share on revenue of $2.3 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.45 per share on revenue of $2.3 billion.

Hormel lowered its 2017 earnings forecast to $1.65 to $1.71 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc PTX shares shot up 41 percent to $3.86 after receiving a favorable opinion in Zohydro® ER ANDA litigation.

Shares of KEMET Corporation KEM got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $9.86 as the company agreed to acquire NEC TOKIN Corporation.

AXT Inc AXTI shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $8.00 after reporting strong Q4 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Ocean Rig UDW Inc. ORIG shares dropped 29 percent to $0.770. Ocean Rig UDW reported a Q4 loss of $3.71 billion on revenue of $355.4 million.

Shares of Teekay Corporation TK were down around 15 percent to $9.28 after the company posted a wider-than-expected Q4 loss.

Ocwen Financial Corp OCN was down, falling around 14 percent to $4.62. Ocwen Financial reported a Q4 loss of $0.08 per share on revenue of $323.9 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.26 percent to $54.80 while gold traded up 1.18 percent to $1,247.80.

Silver traded up 1.10 percent Thursday to $18.22, while copper fell 0.89 percent to $2.72.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.15 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.54 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.41 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.05 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.31 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.10 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims rose 6,000 to 244,000 in the latest week, versus a revised 238,000 in the previous week. Economists expected claims to reach 241,000 for the week.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index dropped to -0.05 in January, versus a prior reading of 0.14. Economists were projecting a reading of 0.10.

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

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for February will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The EIA’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan will speak in Fort Worth, Texas at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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