Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Rises Over 100 Points; Perry Ellis Shares Gain After Strong Q1 Results

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.68 percent to 20,747.84 while the NASDAQ climbed 1 percent to 6,071.44. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.75 percent to 2,374.65.

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 CarMax, Inc KMX.

In trading on Thursday, basic materials shares fell 0.65 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Gerdau SA (ADR) GGB, 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 21 percent to $129.08 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 96 percent to $10.53 as the company reported that GMI-1271 has received the FDA Breakthrough therapy designation for adult relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia.

Perry Ellis International, Inc. PERY shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $19.65 after the company reported stronger-than-expected Q1 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Stein Mart, Inc. SMRT shares dropped 38 percent to $1.06 after the company reported weak Q1 results and suspended its quarterly dividend.

Shares of Ascena Retail Group Inc ASNA were down 29 percent to $2.00 after the company lowered its Q3 and FY17 guidance.

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA (ADR) GOL was down, falling around 26 percent to $11.30. U.S.-listed Brazilian stocks are crashing on Thursday on fears that another political scandal will result in the impeachment of President Michel Temer. Temer, who ran on a platform of economic reform, has been in office for less than a year, but a new report by Brazilian newspaper O Globo has accused Temer of paying off a potential witness in an ongoing graft probe.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.57 percent to $49.35 while gold traded down 0.47 percent to $1,252.80.

Silver traded down 1.51 percent Thursday to $16.65, while copper fell 0.69 percent to $2.529.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.50 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index declined 0.94 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.07 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.33 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.53 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.89 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.

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