Mid-Day Market Update: Brightcove Gains Following Strong Q1 Results; Martin Midstream Partners Shares Slide

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.79 percent to 26388.25 while the NASDAQ gained 0.16 percent to 8115.28. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.14 percent to 2,923.50.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, the communication services shares rose 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Travelzoo TZOO up 16 percent, and Facebook, Inc. FB up 6 percent.

In trading on Thursday, industrial shares fell 2.1 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 34 percent to $6.28. Appliance Recycling’s subsidiary GeoTraq disclosed a new class of mobile IoT modules.

Shares of Brightcove Inc BCOV shot up 13 percent to $9.90 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales and issued strong guidance.

Travelzoo TZOO shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $16.83 following upbeat Q1 earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Avalon GloboCare Corp. AVCO shares dropped 43 percent to $2.91 after reporting a $6 million registered direct offering with institutional investors.

Shares of Martin Midstream Partners L.P. MMLP were down 22 percent to $7.64 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales.

Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc CNSL was down, falling around 25 percent to $6.65 after the company reported Q1 results and announced plans to eliminate its dividend.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2 percent to $65.74 while gold traded up 0.3 percent to $1,283.00.

Silver traded up 0.3 percent Thursday to $15.04, while copper fell 1.3 percent to $2.8775.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.45 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.23 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.18 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.5 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.6 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.61 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 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.