Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; Accenture Posts In-Line Q3 Earnings

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.03 percent to 21,416.74 while the NASDAQ declined 0.1 percent to 6,226.49. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.03 percent to 2,434.77.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Healthcare shares rose by 0.79 percent in the US market on Thursday. Top gainers in the sector included Sangamo Therapeutics Inc SGMO, Dynavax Technologies Corporation DVAX, and Amarin Corporation plc (ADR) AMRN.

In trading on Thursday, technology shares fell by 0.33 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included SINA Corp SINA, down 7 percent, and STMicroelectronics NV (ADR) STM, down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Accenture Plc ACN reported in-line earnings for its third quarter, while sales exceeded estimates. The company also lowered its revenue forecast for the year.

Accenture posted quarterly earnings of $1.52 per share on net revenue of $8.87 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.52 per share on revenue of $8.83 billion.

The company now projects full-year net revenue to increase 6 percent to 7 percent, versus its prior outlook for a 6 percent to 8 percent growth. However, Accenture raised its adjusted profit forecast to $5.84 to $5.91 per share, versus an earlier forecast of $5.70 to $5.87 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Oracle Corporation ORCL shares shot up 9 percent to $50.64 after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter. Wedbush upgraded Oracle from Neutral to Outperform.

Shares of Staples, Inc. SPLS got a boost, shooting up 6 percent to $9.18 on chatter that the company is targeted for an acquisition. Sycamore Partners, a private equity giant, is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire the office supply retailer, Reuters reported. The deal could value Staples at more than $6 billion, a premium to Staples' valuation of $5.60 billion as of Wednesday's market close.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. BKS shares were also up, gaining 7 percent to $6.95 after the company reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its fourth quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Steelcase Inc. SCS shares dropped 12 percent to $14.35 after the company reported downbeat earnings for its first quarter and issued a weak outlook for the second quarter.

Shares of Kamada Ltd KMDA were down 25 percent to $5.60 after the company reported the withdrawal of European Marketing Authorization Application for inhaled Alpha-1 Antitrypsin.

Jernigan Capital Inc JCAP was down, falling around 8 percent to $22.35. Jernigan Capital reported commencement of 3 million share common stock offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.49 percent to $42.74 while gold traded up 0.66 percent to $1,254.00.

Silver traded up 1.25 percent Thursday to $16.64, while copper fell 0.06 percent to $2.6135.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.23 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.40 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.73 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.01 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.28 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.32 percent.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims increased 3,000 to 241,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a 240,000 reading.

The FHFA house price index rose 0.7 percent for April, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent gain.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.3 percent for May.

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 June will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

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