Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; 3M Misses Q1 Expectations

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.92 percent to 26,351.69 while the NASDAQ declined 0.17 percent to 8,088.26. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.38 percent to 2,915.97.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the communication services shares rose 1.1 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Travelzoo TZOO up 10 percent, and Facebook, Inc. FB up 6 percent.

In trading on Thursday, industrial shares fell 1.8 percent.

Top Headline

3M Co MMM reported weaker-than-expected results for its first quarter and lowered its FY19 adjusted EPS guidance. The company also announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs.

3M said it earned $2.23 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $7.86 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $2.49 per share on sales of $8.04 billion.

3M Company now expects FY19 adjusted earnings of $9.25 to $9.75 per share, versus earlier forecast of $10.45 to $10.90 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Appliance Recycling Centers of America, Inc. ARCI shares got a boost, shooting up 47 percent to $6.89. Appliance Recycling’s subsidiary GeoTraq disclosed a new class of mobile IoT modules,

Shares of Brightcove Inc. BCOV shot up 16 percent to $10.10 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales and issued strong guidance.

AXT, Inc. AXTI shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $5.43 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS.

Equities Trading DOWN

Avalon GloboCare Corp. AVCO shares dropped 41 percent to $3.01 after reporting a $6 million registered direct offering with institutional investors.

Shares of Martin Midstream Partners L.P. MMLP were down 23 percent to $7.55 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales.

Monaker Group, Inc. MKGI was down, falling around 22 percent to $1.95. Monaker priced its 870,000 share common stock offering at $2.00 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1 percent to $65.98 while gold traded down 0.1 percent to $1,278.40.

Silver traded down 0.2 percent Thursday to $14.965, while copper fell 1.2 percent to $2.882.

Eurozone

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

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders rose 2.7 percent for March, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.7 percent increase.

U.S. initial jobless claims rose 37,000 to 230,000 last week. However, economists were expecting a 199,000 reading.

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 Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for April is schedule for release at 11:00 a.m. ET.

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

The Treasury will auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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