Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; Kellogg Reports Mixed Q1 Results

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.02 percent to 26,434.72 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.4 percent to 8,082.13. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.17 percent to 2,928.78.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the real estate shares rose 1 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Equinix Inc EQIX up 6 percent, and Summit Hotel Properties Inc INN up 5 percent.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares fell 0.4 percent.

Top Headline

Kellogg Company K reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed views

Earnings came in at $1.01 per share, beating estimates of 95 cents per share. Sales came in at $3.522 billion, missing estimates of $3.53 billion. Kellogg also said its CFO Fareed Kahn was leaving the company.

Equities Trading UP

Arca Biopharma Inc ABIO shares got a boost, shooting up 42.2 percent to $14.57 after rising almost 100 percent Wednesday after the company announced positive trial data was published in a medical journal.

Shares of China Green Agriculture, Inc CGA shot up 30 percent to $0.63 after company entered a share purchase deal in connection with a private placement of 6 million shares with a purchase price of $1.00 per share.

Digimarc Corp DMRC shares were also up, gaining 51 percent to $50.24 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 sales and Craig-Hallum upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy.

Equities Trading DOWN

Eventbrite Inc EB shares dropped 32 percent to $16.50 after missing first-quarter earnings and sales estimates, as well as weak guidance.

Shares of Fluor Corporation (NEW) FLR were down 24 percent to $29.59 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS results and lowered its 2019 EPS expectations.

Nuvectra Corp NVTR was down, falling around 26 percent to $6.99 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.8 percent to $62.49 while gold traded down 1 percent to $1,271.30.

Silver traded down 0.4 percent Thursday to $14.67, while copper fell 0.5 percent to $2.789.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.4 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.1 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.4 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.1 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.4 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.2 percent.

Economics

Data on motor vehicle sales for April will be released today.

U.S. initial jobless claims stood at 230,000 for the latest week. However, economists were expecting a reading of 220,000.

U.S. nonfarm productivity increased at an annual pace of 3.6 percent for the first quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 2.9 percent rise.

U.S. factory orders rose 1.9 percent for March, versus economists’ expectations for a 1 percent gain.

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.