Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Down 1.1%; Chipotle Shares Jump Following Upbeat Q4 Results

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 1.1 percent to 25,110.98 while the NASDAQ declined 1.44 percent to 7,269.44. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.23 percent to 2,697.90.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, the utilities shares climbed 0.4 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pinnacle West Capital Corporation PNW up 1 percent, and FirstEnergy Corp. FE up 1 percent.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 2.6 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

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG shares got a boost, shooting up 14 percent to $597.65 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter. The company also added $100 million to its buyback plan.

Shares of Hanesbrands Inc. HBI shot up 18 percent to $18.32 after the company reported upbeat Q4 earnings.

3Pea International Inc TPNL shares were also up, gaining 21 percent to $5.96 after the company issued outlook for 2019 revenue. 3Pea International projects 2019 revenue of $38 million to $40 million. BTIG Research initiated coverage on 3Pea International with a Buy rating and a $6 price target.

Equities Trading DOWN

Solid Biosciences Inc. SLDB shares dropped 64 percent to $7.97 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 Sangamo Therapeutics Inc SGMO were down 35 percent to $7.83 after the company reported its SB-318 zinc finger nuclease genome editing product did not appear to show a clinical benefit in a Phase 1/2 trial.

USA Technologies, Inc. USAT was down, falling around 51 percent to $3.40 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 3.5 percent to $52.12 while gold traded up 0.03 percent to $1,314.80.

Silver traded up 0.06 percent Thursday to $15.71, while copper fell 0.11 percent to $2.8335.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 1.49 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.79 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 2.59 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 2.67 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 1.84 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.11 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.

Domestic supplies of natural gas declined 237 billion cubic feet for the week ended February 1, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a drop of 249 billion cubic feet.

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.