Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Twitter Shares Drop After Light Forecast

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.60 percent to 25,237.70 while the NASDAQ declined 0.80 percent to 7,315.96. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.69 percent to 2,712.75.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the utilities shares climbed 0.01 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included National Grid plc NGG up 1 percent, and FirstEnergy Corp. FE up 0.5 percent.

In trading on Thursday, information technology shares fell 1 percent.

Top Headline

Twitter Inc TWTR reported fourth-quarter results which came in better than expected, but the stock fell more than 6 percent as investors appear to be concerned with management's guidance and expense warning.

Twitter earned 31 cents per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $909 million. This represents a top-and-bottom line beat as the Street was expecting the company to earn 25 cents per share on revenue of $868.1 million. Monthly active users (MAUs) averaged 321 million in the fourth quarter which represents a decrease of 9 million from last year.

Looking forward to the first quarter, Twitter expects revenue to be $715 million to $775 million which is short of the $764.9 million the Street expected. The company said cash operating expenses will rise 20 percent throughout 2019 to better improve the "health, conversation, revenue product and sales, and platform."

Equities Trading UP

Atossa Genetics Inc. ATOS shares got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $1.77 after the company said its breast cancer treatment showed a 'sizable' reduction in cancer cell biological activity with no safety or tolerability issues.

Shares of HyreCar Inc. HYRE shot up 11 percent to $4.3499 after the company said it expects Q4 revenue of $3.3M versus the $3.2M analyst estimate and said the company is well positioned to reach its goal of positive operating cash flow by mid-2019.

iRobot Corporation IRBT shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $100.53 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter and issued strong FY2019 earnings guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Solid Biosciences Inc. SLDB shares dropped 70 percent to $6.73 after the company announced its muscular dystrophy treatment did not show expected results in trial and the company is planning to increase dosage.

Shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc AVDL were down 22 percent to $2.5350 after the company announced major restructuring plans including a bankruptcy filing for one of the company's subsidiaries.

USA Technologies, Inc. USAT was down, falling around 47 percent to $3.6650 after the company's independent accounting firm resigned and the company warned 2017 financials and some quarterly financials provided by the company should no longer be relied upon.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.4 percent to $53.24 while gold traded down 0.1 percent to $1,313.50.

Silver traded down 0.23 percent Thursday to $15.665, while copper fell 0.1 percent to $2.8335.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.9 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.3 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 1.8 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 1.8 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 1.1 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.4 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims fell 19,000 to a reading of 234,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a 225,000 reading.

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 4-and 8-week bills 11:30 a.m. ET.

Data on consumer credit for December will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard is set to speak in St. Cloud, Minnesota at 7:30 p.m. ET.