Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls 350 Points; Barnes & Noble Shares Climb

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 1.3 percent to 26,474 while the NASDAQ declined 2.31 percent to 7,839.45. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.38 percent to 2,885.24.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, the utilities shares rose 0.35 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Genie Energy Ltd. GNE up 3 percent, and CPFL Energia S.A. CPL up 2 percent.

In trading on Thursday, information technology shares fell 2.2 percent.

Top Headline

Constellation Brands, Inc. STZ reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Constellation Brands posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $2.87 per share on sales of $2.3 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $2.60 per share on sales of $2.25 billion. Constellation Brands raised its FY19 adjusted earnings guidance to $9.60-$9.75 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Vaxart, Inc. VXRT shares shot up 107 percent to $6.10. The company earlier announced it will present new data from a Phase 2 study which showed its oral tabled vaccine provided 39% reduction in flu illness.

Shares of IZEA Worldwide, Inc. IZEA got a boost, shooting up 24 percent to $1.92 after the company earlier reported record Q3 bookings of $9.5 million.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. BKS shares were also up, gaining 21 percent to $6.62 after the company announced Wednesday afternoon it has appointed a Special Committee to review strategic alternatives. The company said it's received interest from "multiple parties," including company chairman Leonard Riggio, who has pledged to vote his shares in favor of any transaction the special committee recommends.

Equities Trading DOWN

Pain Therapeutics, Inc. PTIE shares dropped 59 percent to $1.1763 after the company reported $3.5 million NIH grant award for Alzheimer's study. The company sees Phase II study initiation for Alzheimer's treatment in Q4'18.

Shares of Telaria, Inc. TLRA were down 35 percent to $2.425 after the company lowered its FY18 sales guidance.

Rudolph Technologies, Inc. RTEC was down, falling around 19 percent to $19.41 after the company lowered its third-quarter adjusted EPS guidance from 30-40 cents to 22-25 cents.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.7 percent to $74.34 while gold traded down 0.11 percent to $1,201.60.

Silver traded down 0.51 percent Thursday to $14.595, while copper fell 1.94 to $2.779.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 1.08 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.50 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.59 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.35 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 1.47 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.22 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims fell 8,000 to 207,000 in the latest week. However, Economists were expecting a 213,000 reading.

U.S. factory orders rose 2.3 percent for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 2.1 percent gain.

Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 98 billion cubic feet for the week ended September 28, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a gain of 88 billion cubic foot.

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