Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Rises Over 200 Points; Carriage Services Shares Fall After Downbeat Q3 Results

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.82 percent to 25,320.86 while the NASDAQ climbed 1 percent to 7,379.25. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.73 percent to 2,731.50.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, the materials shares rose 2.7 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Resolute Forest Products RFP up 15 percent, and Hudbay Minerals Inc HBM up 14 percent.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 0.7 percent.

Top Headline

DowDuPont Inc DWDP reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed views.

DowDuPont reported earnings of $0.74 per share, beating the $0.72 estimate. Sales came in at $20.123 billion against a $20.21-billion estimate. The company also announced a $3 billion share buyback plan.

 

Equities Trading UP

Fitbit Inc FIT shares shot up 27 percent to $5.99 after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter on Wednesday.

Shares of Stratasys Ltd SSYS got a boost, shooting up 21 percent to $22.98 after the company posted upbeat Q3 results and raised its FY18 EPS guidance.

FormFactor, Inc. FORM shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $14.94 after reporting a third-quarter earnings beat. The company issued strong fourth quarter earnings and sales guidance.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

FreightCar America, Inc. RAIL shares dropped 23 percent to $11.03 after the company posted a wider-than-expected Q3 loss.

Shares of YRC Worldwide Inc YRCW were down 19 percent to $6.69 after reporting downbeat quarterly earnings.

Carriage Services, Inc. CSV was down, falling around 18 percent to $15.57 after the company posted downbeat Q3 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.28 percent to $65.13 while gold traded up 1.56 percent to $1,234.00.

Silver traded up 2.89 percent Thursday to $14.695, while copper rose 2 to $2.712.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.27 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.69 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.40 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.08 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.26 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.05 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims fell 2,000 to 214,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 213,000 last week.

U.S. nonfarm productivity rose at an annual pace of 2.2 percent for the third quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 2.2 percent increase. Unit labour costs rose 1.2 percent for the third quarter.

The final reading of Markit manufacturing PMI rose to 55.7 for October, versus 55.6 for September. However, economists projected a reading of 55.9.

U.S. construction spending was unchanged for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent rise.

The ISM manufacturing index declined to57.70 for October, versus a prior reading of 59.80. However, economists projected a reading of 59.00.

Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 48 billion cubic feet for the week ended October 26, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a gain of 50 billion cubic foot.