Mid-Day Market Update: Navigator Holdings Gains Following Q4 Results; Endeavour Silver Shares Slide

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.16 percent to 21,081.37 while the NASDAQ declined 0.48 percent to 5,875.71. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.39 percent to 2,386.63.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares climbed by 0.32 percent in trading on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included RGC Resources Inc. RGCO, and NRG Energy Inc NRG.

In trading on Thursday, basic materials shares fell by 1.35 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Endeavour Silver Corp EXK, down 16 percent, and Greif, Inc. GEF, down 11 percent.

Top Headline

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

Abercrombie & Fitch reported Q4 earnings of $0.71 per share on revenue of $1.04 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.75 per share on revenue of $1.05 billion.

Abercrombie & Fitch’s same-store sales dropped 5 percent for the quarter, while comparable sales at Hollister rose 1 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc AUPH shares shot up 34 percent to $4.97 after the company disclosed that Voclosporin met 48-week remission endpoints.

Shares of Ameresco Inc AMRC got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $6.11 after the company reported strong Q4 results.

Navigator Holdings Ltd NVGS shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $13.45 on better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Omega Protein Corporation OME shares dropped 21 percent to $20.80 after the company posted weak Q4 earnings.

Shares of Endeavour Silver Corp EXK were down around 16 percent to $3.69. Endeavour Silver reported a Q4 loss of $5.2 million.

ANI Pharmaceuticals Inc ANIP was down, falling around 15 percent to $51.16. ANI Pharmaceuticals reported a Q4 loss of $1.1 million on revenue of $38.2 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.37 percent to $53.09 while gold traded down 0.60 percent to $1,242.50.

Silver traded down 0.56 percent Thursday to $18.39, while copper fell 1.44 percent to $2.70.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.05 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.17 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.41 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.11 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.07 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.08 percent.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims declined 19,000 to 223,000 for the latest week. However, economists were projecting claims to reach 243,000 in the week.

Supplies of natural gas gained 7 billion cubic feet for the week ended February 24, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts were projecting inventories to decline 2 billion cubic feet.

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

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester is set to speak in New York at 7:00 p.m. ET.