Mid-Day Market Update: Smart & Final Stores Rises Following Strong Q3 Earnings; Remark Holdings Shares Drop

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.44 percent to 24,969.12 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.25 percent to 7,154.28. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.12 percent to 2,698.30.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, the information technology shares climbed 0.75 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Switch Inc SWCH up 14 percent, and AstroNova, Inc. ALOT up 9 percent.

In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary shares fell 1.7 percent.

Top Headline

Walmart Inc WMT reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter and raised its full-year earnings outlook.

Walmart posted Q3 earnings of $1.08 per share on total revenue, excluding currency changes, of $126.1 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.01 per share on sales of $125.44 billion.

Walmart now expects FY19 adjusted earnings of $4.75 to $4.85 per share, versus prior forecast of $4.65 to $4.80 per share.

Equities Trading UP

uniQure N.V. QURE shares shot up 50 percent to $34.15 after the company reported all hemophilia patients in its dose-combo study of AMT-061 achieved a positive response.

Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ARNA got a boost, shooting up 25 percent to $40.5633 after the company and United Therapeutics reported a global license deal for Ralinepag.

Smart & Final Stores, Inc. SFS shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $6.05 after the company reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter and raised its FY18 earnings guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Remark Holdings, Inc. MARK shares dropped 43 percent to $1.86 following news of default event, reduced guidance and evaluation of strategic alternatives by the company's Board.

Shares of CDTi Advanced Materials Inc CDTI were down 58 percent to $0.60 following news the company will voluntarily delist from the Nasdaq; Delisting expected to take place on or about Dec. 6, 2018.

RYB Education Inc - ADR RYB was down, falling around 53 percent to $7.86. While there has not been any company-specific news, traders are circulating reports of Chinese education reform initiatives to prioritize affordable schooling which may be seen as a negative for RYB Education.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.62 percent to $57.16 while gold traded up 0.26 percent to $1,213.20.

Silver traded up 0.67 percent Thursday to $14.175, while copper rose 1.66 percent to $2.755.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 1.54 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.73 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 1.33 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 1.05 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 1.21 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.24 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims rose 2,000 to 216,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a 216,000 reading.

The Philly Fed manufacturing index declined 9.3 points to a reading of 12.9 in November.

U.S. retail sales rose 0.8 percent for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.6 percent increase.

The Empire State manufacturing index climbed 2.2 points to a reading of 23.3 for November.

U.S. import prices rose 0.5 percent for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1 percent gain.

U.S. business inventories rose 0.3 percent for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent increase.

Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 39 billion cubic feet for the week ended November 9, the Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected an increase of 33 billion cubic feet.

Domestic crude supplies rose 10.27 million barrels for the week ended November 9, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 2.3 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles dropped 1.41 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 3.59 million barrels last week.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Madrid, Spain at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in Minneapolis, MN at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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