Mid-Day Market Update: Ascena Retail Tumbles On Weak Guidance; athenahealth Shares Surge

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.17 percent to 20,641.89 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.62 percent to 6,048.69. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.33 percent to 2,364.76.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Cyclical consumer goods & services sector was the top gainer in the US market on Thursday. Top gainers in the sector included Sorl Auto Parts, Inc. SORL, Perry Ellis International, Inc. PERY, and Superior Uniform Group Inc SGC.

In trading on Thursday, basic materials shares fell 0.43 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (ADR) SID, down 16 percent, and Braskem SA (ADR) BAK, down 9 percent.

Top Headline

Wal-Mart Stores Inc WMT reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

Wal-Mart reported earned $1.00 per share in the quarter on revenue of $117.5 billion; Analysts were expecting the world's largest retailer to earn $0.96 per share on revenue of $117.7 billion.

Operating income on a constant currency basis rose 1.3 percent from the same quarter a year ago to $5.343 billion as U.S., partially aided by a 1.4 percent increase in U.S. comps and a 1.5 percent increase in traffic.

Equities Trading UP

athenahealth, Inc ATHN shares shot up 18 percent to $125.29 following a 13D filing from Elliott Associates showing a 9.2 percent stake in the company.

Shares of GlycoMimetics Inc GLYC got a boost, shooting up 72 percent to $9.24 as the company reported that GMI-1271 has received the FDA Breakthrough therapy designation for adult relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ACHN shares were also up, gaining 14 percent to $4.32. Leerink Swann upgraded Achillion Pharmaceuticals from Market Perform to Outperform.

Equities Trading DOWN

Stein Mart, Inc. SMRT shares dropped 38 percent to $1.05 after the company reported weak Q1 results and suspended its quarterly dividend.

Shares of Ascena Retail Group Inc ASNA were down 35 percent to $1.82 after the company lowered its Q3 and FY17 guidance.

Endologix, Inc. ELGX was down, falling around 36 percent to $4.30 after company announced that it needs to conduct a confirmatory clinical trial for its Nellix Endovascular Aneurysm Sealing System with the previously updated instructions for use and the Gen2 device design. This follows the company's meeting with the FDA.The company expects to begin enrolling patients in the study in the fourth quarter and get PMA approval in 2020. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Endologix from Buy to Hold.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.26 percent to $49.20 while gold traded down 0.47 percent to $1,252.80.

Silver traded down 1.96 percent Thursday to $16.575, while copper fell 0.51 percent to $2.5335.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.48 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index declined 0.85 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 0.10 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.32 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.52 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.82 percent.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims dropped 4,000 to 232,000 for the latest week. However, economists projected jobless claims to reach 240,000 in the week.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index climbed to a reading of 38.8 in May, compared to 22 in April. However, economists were expecting a reading of 19.6 for the month.

The leading economic index increased 0.3 percent for April.

Supplies of natural gas increased 68 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 12, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts expected a gain of 61 billion cubic feet.

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester is set to speak in Minneapolis at 1:15 p.m. ET.

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