Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Valeant Jumps On iNova Pharma Sale; MidSouth Bancorp Shares Drop

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.16 percent to 21,206.53 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.27 percent to 6,314.27. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.09 percent to 2,435.41.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial sector was the top gainer in the US market on Thursday. Top gainers in the sector included Bar Harbor Bankshares BHB, Citizens, Inc. CIA, and Umpqua Holdings Corp UMPQ.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 0.84 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Companhia Paranaense de Energia (ADR) ELP, down 9 percent, and Cia Energetica de Minas Gerais CEMIG-ADR CIG, down 4 percent.

Top Headline

J M Smucker Co SJM reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

JM Smucker posted Q4 earnings of $1.80 per share on revenue of $1.78 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $1.72 per share on revenue of $1.77 billion.

JM Smucker expects FY 2018 earnings of $7.85 to $8.05 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $7.93 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX shares shot up 10 percent to $13.40 after the company announced the sale of one of its business units. Valeant has agreed to sell its iNova Pharmaceuticals business for $930 million to a group advised and managed by major private equity players including Pacific Equity Partners and the Carlyle Group.

Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA got a boost, shooting up 12 percent to $140.21 after issuing a strong revenue forecast for FY18. The company’s CFO Maggie Wu drew expects 45 percent to 49 percent revenue growth in FY2018.

Hydrogenics Corporation HYGS shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $8.59 after the company disclosed that it has signed a purchase and license agreement valued at over USD50 million for 1,000 fuel cell bus power modules.

Equities Trading DOWN

USD Partners LP USDP shares dropped 14 percent to $11.05. USD Partners reported an offering of 3 million common units.

Shares of NewLink Genetics Corp NLNK were down 35 percent to $6.90. NewLink Genetics disclosed that Genentech intends to return the rights of IDO inhibitor GDC-0919 back to the company.

MidSouth Bancorp, Inc. MSL was down, falling around 13 percent to $12.20 . MidSouth Bancorp reported pricing of upsized offering of 4.58 million shares of common stock at $12 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.09 percent to $45.76 while gold traded down 1.06 percent to $1,279.50.

Silver traded down 1.16 percent Thursday to $17.415, while copper rose 2.21 percent to $2.608.

Eurozone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.01 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.75 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 1.46 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.32 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.02 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.38 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims declined 10,000 to 245,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 240,000 last week.

Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 106 billion cubic feet for the week ended June 2, the U.S. Energy Information Administration Thursday reported. Analysts projected a gain of 100 billion cubic feet.

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