Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Kroger Earnings Beat Expectations

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.64 percent to 24,501.09 while the NASDAQ declined 0.47 percent to 7,744.78. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.47 percent to 2,754.43.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the telecommunication services shares surged 0.86 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Telecom Argentina S.A. TEO up 9 percent, and Verizon Communications Inc. VZ up 2 percent.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 1.1 percent.

Top Headline

Kroger Co KR reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Thursday.

The company said it earned 73 cents per share in the quarter on revenue of $37.53 billion versus expectations of 63 cents and $37.33 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. XBIO shares shot up 137 percent to $5.67.

Shares of Heron Therapeutics, Inc. HRTX got a boost, shooting up 25 percent to $38.40 after the company disclosed that HTX-011 for postoperative pain management has received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA.

CASI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CASI shares were also up, gaining 14 percent to $6.50. CASI Pharmaceuticals entered into a strategic partnering and contract manufacturing agreement with Yiling Wanzhou International Pharmaceuticals for entecavir and cilostazol.

Equities Trading DOWN

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. NVIV shares dropped 42 percent to $1.94 after reporting pricing of $13.2 million underwritten public offering.

Shares of Gevo, Inc. GEVO were down 31 percent to $8.67 after dropping 35.74 percent on Wednesday. Gevo and Avfuel entered into a renewable jet fuel supply agreement.

Veritone, Inc. VERI was down, falling around 15 percent to $18.44 after reporting a proposed public offering of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.26 percent to $64.88 while gold traded down 0.56 percent to $1,267.50.

Silver traded down 0.09 percent Thursday to $16.295, while copper fell 0.15 to $3.0575.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.35 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.57 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 1.37 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.87 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.47 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.56 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims fell 3,000 to 218,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 2,18,000.

The Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing index declined to 19.9 in June, compared to 34.4 in May. However, economists projected a reading of 28.

The index of leading economic indicators increased 0.2 percent for May.

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

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