Mid-Day Market Update: Micron Gains On Buyback Announcement; Sarepta Shares Dip

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded down 0.07 percent to 16,794.33 while the NASDAQ tumbled 0.19 percent to 4,475.37. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.26 percent to 1,959.45.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares rose by 0.18 percent in today’s trading. Top gainers in the sector included John B Sanfilippo & Son JBSS, up 3.6 percent, and Blyth BTH, up 2.7 percent.

In trading on Monday, energy shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 2.02 percent. Top losers in the sector included Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. PBR, down 14.3 percent, and C&J Energy Services CJES, off 10.6 percent.

Top Headline

Merck & Co MRK reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter and narrowed its forecast for the year.

The Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based company posted a quarterly profit of $895 million, or $0.31 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $1.12 billion, or $0.38 per share. Excluding certain items, its earnings declined to $0.90 per share from $0.92 per share.

Its revenue slipped 4.3% to $10.56 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.88 per share on revenue of $10.64 billion.

Equities Trading UP

NQ Mobile NQ shares shot up 5.70 percent to $9.45 after the company filed its SEC Form 20-F,l which showed full compliance and no attempts to delete documents.

Shares of Micron Technology MU got a boost, shooting up 3.32 percent to $32.09 after the company announced a new $1 billion stock repurchase authorization.

Prosensa Holding N.V. RNA shares were also up, gaining 6.83 percent to $12.83 on the FDA requirement of additional data from Sarepta on Eteplirsen.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Precision Drilling PDS were down 8.53 percent to $8.10. Precision Drilling reported a 79% gain in its third-quarter profit and lifted its quarterly dividend by 17%.

Sarepta Therapeutics SRPT shares tumbled 35.19 percent to $15.27 on the FDA requirement of additional data from Sarepta on Eteplirsen.

Huntsman HUN was down, falling 6.20 percent to $22.98 despite reporting upbeat earnings for the third quarter. However, the company reported revenue of $2.88 billion, versus estimates of $2.91 billion.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.60 percent to $80.52, while gold traded down 0.25 percent to $1,228.70.

Silver traded up 0.02 percent Monday to $17.19, while copper rose 0.74 percent to $3.06.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.62 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.45 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index tumbled 2 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.91 percent and the French CAC 40 declined 0.81 percent while UK shares dropped 0.92 percent.

Economics

The Markit services PMI fell to 57.30 in October, versus a prior reading of 58.90. However, economists were expecting a reading of 58.00.

The pending home sales index gained 0.3% to reach 105 in September, versus 104.7 in August.

The Dallas Fed general business activity index fell to 10.50 in October, versus a prior reading of 10.80. However, economists were expecting a reading of 11.00.