Mid-Day Market Update: RH Surges After Strong Results; Barnes & Noble Shares Slide

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.21 percent to 21,762.66 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.09 percent to 6,398.88. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.12 percent to 2,462.48.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, the utilities shares surged 0.64 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Companhia Energetica de Minas Gers CEMIG CIG, up 2 percent, and NextEra Energy Inc NEE, up 2 percent.

In trading on Thursday, financial shares fell 0.37 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included United Insurance Holdings Corp UIHC, down 7 percent, and Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited AHL down 8 percent.

Top Headline

Conn's Inc CONN reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Conn's reported a Q2 adjusted profit of $0.26 per share on revenue of $366.6 million. However, analysts were expecting a loss at $0.02 per share on revenue of $371.91 million.

Equities Trading UP

RH RH shares shot up 40 percent to $69.19 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised its FY2017 outlook.

Shares of NewLink Genetics Corp NLNK got a boost, shooting up 29 percent to $10.03 after the company offered updated data for indoximod plus KEYTRUDA. The updated data showed improvement of response rate for patients in advanced melanoma.

Verona Pharma plc VRNA shares were also up, gaining 26 percent to $15.12 after the company disclosed positive top-line data from Phase 2a clinical trial in COPD with RPL554 dosed in addition to tiotropium.

Equities Trading DOWN

NCI Building Systems Inc NCS shares dropped 20 percent to $13.45 after the company reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results.

Shares of Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. APOP were down 13 percent to $8.67. Cellect Biotechnology reported a $4.3 million raise in a registered direct offering.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. BKS was down, falling around 12 percent to $6.95 as the company posted downbeat quarterly results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.35 percent to $48.99 while gold traded up 0.84 percent to $1,350.30.

Silver traded up 1.28 percent Thursday to $18.14, while copper fell 0.24 percent to $3.144.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.25 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.06 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.39 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.72 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.28 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.72 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims rose 62,000 to 298,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 241,000 last week.

U.S. nonfarm productivity rose 1.50 percent for the second quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.30 percent growth.

Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 65 billion cubic feet for the week ended September 1, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 64 billion cubic feet.

Domestic crude supplies rose 4.58 million barrels for the latest week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were estimating a gain of 4.02 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles fell 3.2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 1.4 million barrels last week.

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester is set to speak in Pittsburgh at 12:15 p.m. ET.

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

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic will speak in Atlanta at 7:00 p.m. ET.

President Federal Reserve Bank of New York William Dudley is set to speak in New York at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George will speak in Omaha at 8:15 p.m. ET.