Mid-Afternoon Market Update: U.S. Stocks Turn Positive; At Home Group Shares Fall

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.10% to 27676.26 while the NASDAQ rose 0.05% to 8,571.24. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.12% to 3,116.39.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares climbed 0.6% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd TRQ, up 14%, and Americas Gold and Silver Corporation USAS, up 7%.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares fell 0.5%.

Top Headline

Dollar General Corporation DG reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter and raised FY19 forecast.

Dollar General posted quarterly earnings of $1.42 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.38 ps. Its sales came in at $6.991 billion, missing estimates of $6.92 billion.

Dollar General raised its FY19 adjusted EPS guidance from $6.45-$6.60 to $6.55-$6.65 and added $1 billion to its buyback program.

Equities Trading UP

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. AUPH shares shot up 83% to $15.36 after the company reported positive clinical readout for its lead asset voclosporin in treating lupus nephritis, an autoimmune disorder. Aurinia has a single-product pipeline. Voclosporin is being evaluated for multiple indications. The investigational asset is in the most advanced stage of clinical development for lupus nephritis. The company announced positive safety and efficacy data from its pivotal Phase 3 study of voclosporin, in combination with mycophenolate, the current standard of care, and low-dose corticosteroids in the treatment of lupus nephritis.

Shares of Duluth Holdings Inc. DLTH got a boost, shooting up 25% to $9.77 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results.

Express, Inc. EXPR shares were also up, gaining 28% to $4.99 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 EPS and sales results. The company also issued Q4 EPS guidance above analyst estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

Sage Therapeutics, Inc. SAGE shares tumbled 59% to $60.75 following news topline results from a Phase 3 study of SAGE-217 did not meet a primary endpoint at day 15 of the trial.

Shares of Akers Biosciences, Inc. AKER were down 42% to $3.1998. Akers Biosciences priced its 1.99 million unit offering at $4 per unit. The company disclosed that it will continue its strategic review and explore entering the hemp and minor cannabinoid processing industry.

At Home Group Inc HOME was down, falling 33% to $5.71 after the company issued Q4 and FY20 EPS and sales guidance below analyst estimates.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2% to $58.54, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,481.70.

Silver traded up 0.7% Thursday to $17.035, while copper rose 0.2% to $2.665.

Euro zone


European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.13%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.3%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.28%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.65%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.03% while UK shares fell 0.7%.

Economics

The US trade deficit shrank 7.6% to $47.2 billion in October, versus revised $51.1 billion in the prior month. Imports fell 1.7% to $254.3 billion, while exports declined 0.2% to $207.1 billion in October.

Initial jobless claims declined 10,000 to 203,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a reading of 215,000.

U.S. factory orders rose 0.3% for November, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3% increase.

Domestic supplies of natural gas dropped 19 billion cubic feet for the week ended November 29, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a decline of 21 billion cubic feet.

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