Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Down Over 200 Points; Digimarc Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.78 percent to 26223.54 while the NASDAQ declined 0.56 percent to 8,004.84. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.52 percent to 2,908.73.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, the real estate shares rose 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Equinix Inc EQIX up 5 percent, and Summit Hotel Properties Inc INN up 5 percent.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 1.4 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 55 percent to $15.88 after rising almost 100 percent Wednesday after the company announced positive trial data was published in a medical journal.

Shares of TransMedics Group TMDX shot up 36 percent to $21.75. TransMedics priced its upsized 5.69 million share IPO at $16 per share.

Digimarc Corp DMRC shares were also up, gaining 47 percent to $48.80 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 29 percent to $17.08 after missing first-quarter earnings and sales estimates, as well as weak guidance.

Shares of Fluor Corporation (NEW) FLR were down 25 percent to $29.55 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS results and lowered its 2019 EPS expectations.

Nuvectra Corp NVTR was down, falling around 30 percent to $6.53 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 3.9 percent to $61.12 while gold traded down 0.9 percent to $1,272.40.

Silver traded down 0.7 percent Thursday to $14.63, while copper fell 0.7 percent to $2.781.

 

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.58 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.6 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.78 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.01 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.85 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.46 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.

Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 123 billion cubic feet for the week ended April 26, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 118 billion cubic feet.

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