Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; Philip Morris Profit Misses Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.05 percent to 21,630.40 while the NASDAQ declined 0.02 percent to 6,383.61. However, the S&P gained 0.05 percent to 2,474.95.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Healthcare shares climbed by 0.57 percent in the US market on Thursday. Top gainers in the sector included Sarepta Therapeutics Inc SRPT, and AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc ACRX.

In trading on Thursday, basic materials shares fell 0.76 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included A Schulman Inc SHLM, down 19 percent, and PPG Industries, Inc. PPG, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Philip Morris International Inc. PM reported weaker-than-expected profit for its second quarter.

Philip Morris posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.14 per share, on revenue, excluding excise taxes, of $6.9 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.23 per share on net sales of $7.11 billion.

Philip Morris lowered its 2017 earnings forecast to $4.78 to $4.93 per share, versus earlier outlook of $4.84 to $4.99 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Avista Corp AVA shares shot up 18 percent to $51.11 after Hydro One announced a deal to buy Avista at $53 per share in cash.

Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc SRPT got a boost, shooting up 22 percent to $41.51 after the company reported stronger-than-expected quarterly revenue.

Highpower International Inc HPJ shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $4.60. Highpower International reported preliminary Q2 net income of $3.5 million to $4.1 million, and sales of $50 million to $52 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

MarineMax Inc HZO shares dropped 25 percent to $14.90 after the company reported downbeat Q3 results and lowered its FY17 earnings outlook.

Shares of A Schulman Inc SHLM were down 18 percent to $25.65 after the company cut its FY17 adjusted earnings forecast.

Insteel Industries Inc IIIN was down, falling around 13 percent to $28.11 on Q3 results. Insteel reported Q3 earnings of $0.36 per share on sales of $96.9 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.70 percent to $47.45 while gold traded down 0.30 percent to $1,245.00.

Silver traded down 0.23 percent Thursday to $16.26, while copper rose 0.18 percent to $2.7155.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.39 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.06 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.34 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.87 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.54 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.57 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims dropped 15,000 to 233,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting jobless claims to reach 245,000 last week.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve manufacturing index dropped to 19.5 in July, compared to 27.6 in June. However, aconomists projected a reading of 24.
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The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.6 percent for June.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

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