Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Ciena Beats Q2 Expectations

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.12 percent to 25569 while the NASDAQ fell 0.16 percent to 7,563. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.06 percent to 2,827.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 1.1 percent on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited TNP, up 8 percent, and Nextdecade Corp NEXT, up 4 percent.

In trading on Thursday, industrial shares fell by 0.4 percent.

Top Headline

Ciena Corporation CIEN reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Ciena's adjusted earnings came in at 48 cents per share, which beat the estimate of 41 cents. Ciena reported second-quarter sales of $865 million, which beat the $819 million estimate.

Equities Trading UP

Stitch Fix Inc SFIX shares shot up 19 percent to $28.10 after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings or its third quarter on Wednesday.

Shares of ContraVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CTRV got a boost, shooting up 117 percent to $10.83 after the company showed results from preclinical study of CRV431 'significantly decreased the extent of fibrosis in a second animal model of liver fibrosis.'

Ciena Corporation CIEN shares were also up, gaining 23 percent to $44.03 after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

At Home Group Inc HOME shares tumbled 47 percent to $9.28 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 EPS results and cut FY20 EPS guidance.

Shares of Kirkland's, Inc. KIRK were down 42 percent to $2.46 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results.

Cloudera, Inc. CLDR was down, falling 40 percent to $5.32 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 sales results. The company also issued Q2 EPS and sales guidance below analyst estimates.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.9 percent to $52.12, while gold traded up 0.7 percent to $1,342.50.

Silver traded up 1.3 percent Thursday to $14.98, while copper rose 0.6 percent to $2.6385.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.4 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.1 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.2 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.4 percent while UK shares rose 0.6 percent.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims were unchanged at 218,000 for the latest week. Economists were expecting a reading of 215,000.

The U.S. trade deficit declined 2.1 percent to $50.8 billion in April, compared to revised $51.9 billion in March. However, economists projected a $50.7 billion deficit. Exports fell 2.2 percent to $206.8 billion, while imports slipped 2.2 percent to $257.6 billion in April.

U.S. nonfarm productivity increased at an annual pace of 3.4 percent in the first quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 3.5 percent growth.

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.

New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will speak in New York at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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