Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Cisco Earnings Top Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.44 percent to 25,429.69 while the NASDAQ declined 0.05 percent to 7,416.78. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.33 percent to 2,743.84.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the information technology shares climbed 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Cyberark Software Ltd CYBR up 17 percent, and Micro Focus International PLC - ADR MFGP up 14 percent.

In trading on Thursday, financial shares fell 1.4 percent.

Top Headline

Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter on Wednesday.

Second-quarter earnings came in at 73 cents per share, beating estimates by a penny. Sales came in at $12.4 billion, missing estimates by $10 million.

The company reported strong third-quarter earnings guidance and expects sales growth of 4-6 percent year-over-year. Cisco also added $15 billion to its buyback plan.

Equities Trading UP

Invacare Corporation IVC shares got a boost, shooting up 66 percent to $8.81 after reporting strong Q4 results.

Shares of Arcimoto, Inc. FUV shot up 25 percent to $4.2599 on 15.8x avg. volume; the stock may be moving in sympathy with Electrameccanica, which spiked after a Bloomberg article highlighted its Solo electric vehicle. Arcimoto makes similar electric vehicles.

CyberArk Software Ltd. CYBR shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $101.08 after the company reported upbeat Q4 results and issued strong Q1 forecast.

Equities Trading DOWN

Motif Bio plc MTFB shares dropped 72 percent to $2.8900 after the FDA said it cannot accept the company's new drug application for iclaprim in its current state and indicated additional data may be needed.

Shares of Sierra Wireless, Inc. SWIR were down 28 percent to $11.11 after the company reported downbeat Q4 results and issued weak Q1 guidance.

Caladrius Biosciences, Inc. CLBS was down, falling around 24 percent to $4.06 after the company reported data from its Phase 2a trial of ALBS03 diabetes therapy; data showed no improvement in primary endpoint.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2 percent to $54.00 while gold traded down 0.1 percent to $1,314.10.

Silver traded down 0.62 percent Thursday to $15.555, while copper rose 0.52 percent to $2.7875.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.2 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.3 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.1 percent, and the French CAC 40 surged 0.6 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.2 percent.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims increased 4,000 to 239,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a reading of 225,000.

The Producer Price Index dropped 0.1 percent for January, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1 percent rise.

U.S. retail sales fell 1.2 percent for December, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1 percent rise.

U.S. business inventories fell 0.1 percent for November.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker is set to speak in Newark, DE at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

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