Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Conagra Earnings Top Expectations

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.38 percent to 25,842.17 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.51 percent to 7,768.72. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.38 percent to 2,834.81.


Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the information technology shares climbed 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included StoneCo Ltd STNE up 8 percent, and Internap Corp INAP up 9 percent.

In trading on Thursday, financial shares fell 0.8 percent.


Top Headline

Conagra Brands Inc CAG reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

Conagra reported quarterly earnings of $0.51 per share on sales of $2.707 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.49 per share on sales of $2.78 billion.

Conagra said it expects 2019 EPS of $2.03 to $2.08 versus the $2.05 analyst estimate..


Equities Trading UP

Spi Energy Co Ltd SPI shares got a boost, shooting up 80 percent to $4.70 after the company announced an amendment to its 2017 merger agreement with Thermi Sun which will delay the acquisition no later than May 20th.

Shares of AgEagle Aerial Systems, Inc. UAVS shot up 64 percent to $0.8211 after the company announced the launch of a new product and a first customer for the product.

Superconductor Technologies Inc. SCON shares were also up, gaining 23 percent to $2.0262 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales.

 

Equities Trading DOWN


Guess?, Inc. GES shares dropped 14 percent to $18.89 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS results.

Shares of Oragenics Inc OGEN were down 29 percent to $0.62 after the company priced an offering consisting of 1 share of stock and warrants to purchase 2 shares of stock at $0.75 per unit.

Biogen Inc BIIB was down, falling around 27 percent to $233.62 after the company said it will discontinue an ongoing Alzheimer's drug study. Biogen and its partner Japan-based Eisai said they will discontinue an ongoing global Phase 3 trial of its therapy aducanumab. The investigational compound was meant to slow the progression of Alzheimer's by reducing amyloid plaques present in the brain.


Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8 percent to $59.75 while gold traded up 1 percent to $1,315.20.


Silver traded up 1.5 percent Thursday to $15.545, while copper rose 0.9 percent to $2.9465.

 

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.5 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.6 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.1 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.8 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.4 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.3 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims dropped 9,000 to 221,000 in the latest week. However, economists were projecting claims to reach 226,000.

The Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing index rose to 13.7 in March, versus a reading of - 4.1 in February.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.2 percent for February.

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 at 11:30 a.m. ET.

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

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Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Morning Market Update
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