Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; Honeywell Tops Q1 Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.05 percent to 26461.62 while the NASDAQ declined 0.51 percent to 7,955.91. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.2 percent to 2,894.66.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the industrial shares rose 0.9 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Snap-on Incorporated SNA up 7 percent, and United Rentals, Inc. URI up 8 percent.

In trading on Thursday, health care shares fell 0.8 percent.

Top Headline

Honeywell International Inc. HON reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter and raised its FY19 guidance.

Honeywell said it earned $1.92 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $8.884 billion versus expectations of $1.83 per share and $8.63 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

Mustang Bio, Inc. MBIO shares got a boost, shooting up 141 percent to $6.41. The microcap biotech that develops next-gen cell and gene therapies for hematologic cancers, glioblastoma and rare genetic diseases announced Wednesday after the market close positive data for a lentiviral gene therapy, which it has licensed from the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The lentiviral gene therapy is being evaluated for safety and efficacy in newly-diagnosed infants under two years old with X-line severe combined immunodeficiency, or XSCID, commonly called "bubble boy disease."

Shares of Fortress Biotech, Inc. FBIO shot up 26 percent to $1.84 after the company's subsidiary, Mustang Bio, published data from a trial of its lentiviral gene therapy for bubble boy disease.

United Rentals, Inc. URI shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $136.15 after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Wednesday.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

Skechers U.S.A., Inc. SKX shares dropped 10 percent to $31.85 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales. The company also issued weak Q2 EPS guidance.

Shares of Sleep Number Corporation SNBR were down 16 percent to $40.16 after reporting Q1 results.

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. EIGR was down, falling around 15 percent to $11.08 after the company announced a 4.5 million share common stock offering at $11 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.1 percent to $63.73 while gold traded up 0.1 percent to $1,278.00.

Silver traded up 0.2 percent Thursday to $14.975, while copper fell 1.4 percent to $2.925.

 

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.4 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.1 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.5 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.7 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.1 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims fell 5,000 to 192,000 in the latest week.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve manufacturing index fell to 8.5 in April, versus a reading of 13.7 in March.

U.S. retail sales rose 1 percent for March.

The IHS Markit's flash services PMI dropped to 52.9 from 55.3, while manufacturing PMI came in flat at 52.4.

U.S. business inventories increased 0.3 percent for February.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.4 percent for March.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

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