Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Magna Tops Q1 Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.35 percent to 24,629.29 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.40 percent to 7,369.50. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.40 percent to 2,708.44.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the telecommunication services shares rose 1.06 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Globalstar, Inc. GSAT, up 5 percent, and Partner Communications Company Ltd. PTNR up 4 percent.

In trading on Thursday, financial shares fell 0.27 percent.

Top Headline

Magna International Inc. (USA) MGA reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

Magna International posted Q1 earnings of $1.84 per share on sales of $10.792 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $1.70 per share on sales of $10.11 billion.

Magna now expects FY18 sales of $40.9 billion to $43.1 billion, versus earlier forecast of $39.3 billion to $41.5 billion. It projects net income of $2.4 billion to $2.6 billion.

Equities Trading UP

ARMO BioSciences, Inc. ARMO shares shot up 67 percent to $49.7362 after Eli Lilly and Company LLY announced plans to acquire ARMO BioSciences for $50 per share.

Shares of Turtle Beach Corporation HEAR got a boost, shooting up 98 percent to $13.7499 after the company reported Q1 results and raised its FY18 outlook.

Everspin Technologies, Inc. MRAM shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $8.94 after the company reported strong results for its first quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Amedica Corporation AMDA shares dropped 48 percent to $1.26 after the company reported pricing of $15,000,000 public offering of units consisting of convertible preferred stock and warrants.

Shares of MDC Partners Inc. MDCA were down 30 percent to $4.78 after a first-quarter earnings miss.

Hudson Technologies Inc. HDSN was down, falling around 25 percent to $3.07 after the company reported downbeat Q1 earnings.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.48 percent to $71.48 while gold traded up 0.75 percent to $1,322.80.

Silver traded up 1.31 percent Thursday to $16.755, while copper rose 1.82 to $3.113.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.32 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.10 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.23 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.17 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.04 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.01 percent.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2 percent for April, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent rise.

U.S. initial jobless claims were flat at 211,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 218,000.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at 10:30 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 April will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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