Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Gain; Best Buy Beats Q4 Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.20 percent to 25,079.47 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.08 percent to 7,278.44. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.23 percent to 2,719.99.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the utilities shares gained 0.81 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NRG Energy Inc NRG, up 4 percent, and Atlantic Power Corp AT, up 4 percent.

In trading on Thursday, Technology shares tumbled 0.42 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Overstock.com Inc OSTK, down 6 percent, and QAD Inc. QADB down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Best Buy Co Inc BBY reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

The company said it earned $2.42 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $15.3 billion versus expectations of $2.04 per share on revenue of $14.5 billion.

Best Buy expects FY19 sales of $41 billion to $42 billion and earnings of $4.80 to $5.00 per share. The company projects Q1 sales of $8.65 billion to $8.75 billion and earnings of $0.68 to $0.73 per share.

Equities Trading UP

3D Systems Corporation DDD shares shot up 26 percent to $10.72 following strong preliminary results.

Shares of Novavax, Inc. NVAX got a boost, shooting up 25 percent to $7.49 after management announced the NanoFlu Vaccine demonstrated improved immune responses over alternative flu vaccines.

AxoGen, Inc. AXGN shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $34.0611 as the company posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss.

Equities Trading DOWN

Colony NorthStar, Inc. CLNS shares dropped 22 percent to $6.10. Colony NorthStar reported a Q4 GAAP loss of $0.69 per share and announced a $300 million buyback plan.

Shares of Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PTLA were down 28 percent to $30.67. Portola Pharma reported Q4 loss of $1.41 per share.
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Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. CCRN was down, falling around 25 percent to $9.71 following downbeat quarterly earnings.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.83 percent to $61.13 while gold traded down 0.80 percent to $1,307.30.

Silver traded down 0.90 percent Thursday to $16.26, while copper fell 0.53 percent to $3.116.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.95 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.95 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.89 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 1.52 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.96 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.78 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims declined 10,000 to 210,000 in the latest week. Economists expected claims to reach 226,000.

U.S. consumer spending rose 0.2 percent for January, while real disposable income rose 0.9 percent.

The Markit manufacturing PMI slipped to 55.30 for April, versus prior reading of 55.50. Economists expected a reading of 55.90.

U.S. construction spending was unchanged for January.

The ISM manufacturing index climbed to 60.8 in February, versus 59.1 in January. However, economists expected a reading of 59.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is set to speak in Washington at 10:00 a.m. ET.

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

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley will speak in Sao Paulo, Brazil at 11:00 a.m. ET.

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