Mid-Day Market Update: Tocagen Falls On Failed Late-Stage Brain Cancer Study; Sintx Technologies Shares Jump

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.42% to 27,251.73 while the NASDAQ rose 0.41% to 8,203.22. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.40% to 3,012.91.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares climbed 0.8% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ruhnn Holding Limited RUHN, up 37%, and LKQ Corporation LKQ, up 10%.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 0.6%.

Top Headline

Kroger Co KR reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter, while sales missed views.

Second-quarter earnings came in at 44 cents per share, beating estimates of 41 cents. Sales came in at $28.17 billion, versus estimates by $28.38 billion.

Kroger plans to continue to reduce costs and says it is on track to deliver $100 million in incremental operating profit through alternative profit stream growth. Kroger maintained its 2019 outlook.

Equities Trading UP

Sintx Technologies, Inc. SINT shares shot up 69% to $2.5404 after Ascendiant Capital initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a $3 price target.

Shares of 111, Inc. YI got a boost, shooting up 18% to $5.41. 111 reported the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with Dong-E-E-Jiao Co., Ltd. for direct sourcing.

10x Genomics, Inc. TXG shares were also up, gaining 42% to $55.35. 10x Genomics priced IPO of 10 million shares at $39 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tocagen Inc. TOCA shares tumbled 77% to $0.9510 following an adverse clinical trial readout. Tocagen, a thinly traded nano-cap biotech, said Thursday morning a Phase 3 TOCA 5 study evaluating Toca 511 and Toca FC in patients with recurrent, high-grade glioma undergoing resection missed the primary endpoint of overall survival compared to the standard of care.

Shares of Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. ADVM were down 30% to $8.41 after the company reported data from the first cohort of OPTIC phase 1 trial of ADVM-022 intravitreal gene therapy to treat wet AMD.

Tailored Brands, Inc. TLRD was down, falling 27% to $5.26 after the company issued Q3 EPS guidance below analyst estimates. The company also suspended its quarterly dividend.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.8% to $54.73, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,510.70.

Silver traded down 0.1% Thursday to $18.16, while copper rose 0.8% to $2.635.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.25%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.88%. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.41% and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.44% while UK shares rose 0.09%.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1% increase.

U.S. initial jobless claims fell 15,000 to 204,000 for the latest week. However, analysts were expecting a 215,000 reading.

Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 78 billion cubic feet for the week ended September 6, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 87 billion cubic feet.

The U.S. Treasury budget report for August will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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