Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Facebook Beats Q2 Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.33% to 27,180.88 while the NASDAQ fell 0.64% to 8,267.88. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.33% to 3,009.52.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares slipped by just 0.1% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ambev S.A. ABEV, up 8%, and Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV BUD, up 7%.

In trading on Thursday, materials shares fell 1.4%.

Top Headline

Facebook, Inc. FB reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter on Wednesday.

Adjusted earnings came in at $1.99, beating estimates by 12 cents. Sales came in at $16.886 billion, beating estimates by $476 million. DAUs increased 8% year-over-year to 1.59 billion, while MAUs increased 8% year-over-year to 2.41 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Gemphire Therapeutics Inc. GEMP shares shot up 32% to $0.9260 after the company announced a merger with NeuroBO Pharmaceuticals.

Shares of Anika Therapeutics, Inc. ANIK got a boost, shooting up 36% to $55.41 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 sales results.

EDAP TMS S.A. EDAP shares were also up, gaining 21% to $3.211 after the company reported preliminary Q2 sales are up 45% from last year.

Equities Trading DOWN

Align Technology, Inc. ALGN shares tumbled 25% to $206.07 after the company issued Q3 EPS and sales guidance below analyst estimates. Evercore ISI Group downgraded the company's stock from Outperform to In-Line and lowered the price target from $340 to $220.

Shares of Lantheus Holdings, Inc. LNTH were down 21% to $22.98 after the company reported downbeat Q2 sales and lowered FY2019 guidance.

Spirit Airlines, Inc. SAVE was down, falling 18% to $45.16 after multiple firms downgraded the company's stock following the release of the company's Q2 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.2% to $56.53, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,423.80.

Silver traded down 0.4% Thursday to $16.565, while copper rose 0.2% to $2.7185.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.3%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.3%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.4%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.3% while UK shares fell 0.1%.

Economics

Durable-goods orders increased 2% in June, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.7% rise.

The advance trade deficit in goods shrank 1.2% to $74.2 billion in June. However, economists were expecting a deficit of $72.6 billion. Wholesale inventories fell 0.2% in June, while advanced retail inventories declined 0.1%.

Initial jobless claims fell 10,000 to 206,000 in the latest week. However, economists projected a reading of 218,000.

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 Kansas City manufacturing index for July will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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