Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; Wal-Mart Posts Mixed Q3 Results

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.07 percent to 18,882.15 while the NASDAQ gained 0.06 percent to 5,297.60. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.18 percent to 2,181.01.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, energy shares gained by 1.12 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Western Refining, Inc. WNR, and Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. ANW.

In trading on Thursday, healthcare shares fell by 0.03 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX, down 7 percent, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc REGN, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. WMT reported mixed results for its third quarter.

Wal-Mart said it earned $0.98 per share in the quarter on revenue of $117.2 billion. Analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.96 per share on revenue of $118.7 billion.

Revenue for the quarter rose 0.7 percent from a year ago while U.S. comp sales rose 1.2 percent, driven by a traffic increase of 0.7 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Rand Logistics, Inc. RLOG shares shot up 134 percent to $2.55. Rand Logistics shares have dropped 52.05 percent over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has gained 6.17 percent in the same period.

Shares of Global Ship Lease Inc GSL got a boost, shooting up 56 percent to $3.12 after gaining 28.21 percent on Wednesday.

Sino-Global Shipping America, Ltd. SINO shares were also up, gaining 40 percent to $9.45 after climbing 178.10 percent on Wednesday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Stage Stores Inc SSI shares dropped 26 percent to $4.31 as the company reported a wider-than-expected Q3 loss and issued a weak earnings forecast for the current quarter.

Shares of Stein Mart, Inc. SMRT were down 23 percent to $5.26 after the company reported weak results for its third quarter.

Sanchez Production Partners LP SPP was down, falling around 16 percent to $11.15. Sanchez Production Partners priced its 6.55M share offering at $11 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.30 percent to $46.70 while gold traded up 0.03 percent to $1,224.30.

Silver traded up 0.02 percent Thursday to $16.93, while copper rose 0.79 percent to $2.50.

Eurozone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.01 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.38 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.21 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.27 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.02 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.12 percent.

Economics

The consumer price index rose 0.4 percent in October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent growth.

U.S. housing starts rose to an annual rate of 1.32 million in October, versus a revised 1.05 million in September. Economists expected a rate of 1.17 million for the month.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index declined to a reading of 7.6 in November, versus a reading of 9.7 in October. Economists were expecting a reading of 8.

Initial jobless claims dropped 19,000 to 235,000 in the latest week. Economists projected claims to total 257,000 in the week.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is set to testify before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress in Washington D.C. at 10:00 a.m. ET.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard will speak in New York at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans is set to speak in Chicago at 2:45 p.m. ET.

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