Mid-Day Market Update: J.Jill Tumbles Following Weak Q3 Outlook; Ardelyx Shares Surge

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.05 percent to 22,860.54 while the NASDAQ declined 0.03 percent to 6,601.54. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.08 percent to 2,553.14.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares surged 0.61 percent.

In trading on Thursday, telecommunications services shares fell 0.74 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included AT&T Inc. T, down 4 percent, and B Communications Ltd BCOM down 3 percent.

Top Headline

JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM posted stronger-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

JPMorgan posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.76 per share on revenue of $26.2 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $1.65 per share on revenue of $25.2 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Ardelyx Inc ARDX shares shot up 57 percent to $2.30 after the company disclosed that its pivotal Phase 3 study of tenapanor hit primary and all secondary endpoints.

Shares of Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. INFI got a boost, shooting up 62 percent to $2.71 after jumping 14.38 percent on Wednesday. Infinity Pharma reported an IPI-549 late-breaking presentation at the 2017 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting. Wells Fargo upgraded Infinity Pharma from Market Perform to Outperform.

Polar Power Inc POLA shares were also up, gaining 14 percent to $6.05 as the company disclosed that it has Receives multi-unit purchase order of DC Power Systems from new Tier-1 wireless carrier for Puerto Rico market.

Equities Trading DOWN

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc ACRX shares dropped 57 percent to $2.28 after the company disclosed that it received a CRL from the FDA regarding its NDA for DSUVIA. The FDA did not approve the NDA in its present form.

Shares of J.Jill Inc JILL were down 50 percent to $4.96 after the company issued a weak earnings outlook for the third quarter. The company expects adjusted earnings $0.08-$0.10 per share versus the sell-side consensus estimate of $0.19.

NanoString Technologies Inc NSTG was down, falling around 37 percent to $9.92 as the company issued weak preliminary guidance for the third quarter. The company also reduced its Q3 Product & Service sales guidance. Cowen & Co. downgraded NanoString from Outperform to Market Perform, while Janney Capital downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.83 percent to $50.36 while gold traded up 0.41 percent to $1,294.20.

Silver traded up 0.42 percent Thursday to $17.205, while copper rose 1.26 percent to $3.1345.

Eurozone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.03 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.15 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.66 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.19 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.05 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.26 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims dropped 15,000 to 243,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 250,000 last week.

The producer price index rose 0.4 percent in September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent gain.

Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 87 billion cubic feet in the week ended October 6, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a gain of 82 billion cubic feet.

The EIA’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 30-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury budget report for September will be released at 2:00 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 is set to speak in Hong Kong at 9:15 p.m. ET.