Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Constellation Brands Tops Q4 Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.53 percent to 26,357.18 while the NASDAQ gained 0.25 percent to 7,564.16. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.20 percent to 2,879.26.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the communication services shares rose 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Boingo Wireless, Inc. WIFI up 5 percent, and Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. TKC up 6 percent.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 0.3 percent.

Top Headline

Constellation Brands STZ reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

Constellation Brands reported quarterly earnings of $1.84 per share on sales of $1.797 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.72 per share on sales of $1.73 billion.

Constellation Brands said it expects FY20 comparable earnings of $8.50 to $8.80 per share. The company agreed to sell around 30 of its brands from its wine and spirits portfolio to E. & J. Gallo Winery for $1.7 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Shineco Inc TYHT shares got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $1.40 after the company entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Xingshan People's Government for the construction of an industrial hemp planting base.

Shares of Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp TNXP shot up 20 percent to $2.79 after the company reported the expansion of its TNX-102 SL 5.6 mg program beyond PTSD to include Phase 3 development for TNX-102 SL in fibromyalgia.

Recro Pharma, Inc. REPH shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $7.81 after the company announced a reorganization plan in its acute care segment and raised FY19 sales guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

InspireMD Inc NSPR shares dropped 31 percent to $4.93 after the company priced its 487,000 share offering at $5 per share.

Shares of Ocean Power Technologies Inc OPTT were down 59 percent to $3.16 after surging 55.20 percent on Wednesday. Ocean Power Technologies announced a $15 million offering priced at $3.50 per share.

Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. PSTI was down, falling around 33 percent to $0.58 after the company announced a $20 million offering, comprised of common stock and warrants, priced at $0.70 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.3 percent to $62.62 while gold traded down 0.4 percent to $1,290.80.

Silver traded down 1.2 percent Thursday to $14.92, while copper fell 1.4 percent to $2.908.

 

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.4 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.2 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.4 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.1 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.3 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.5 percent.

Economics

Jobless claims dropped 10,000 to 202,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a reading of 216,000.

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.

Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker will speak in Philadelphia, PA at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester is set to speak in Columbus, Ohio at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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