Mid-Day Market Update: Coca-Cola Beats Q4 Estimates; Peabody Energy Shares Spike Higher

US stocks remained lower on Thursday following the release of inflation data. The annual inflation rate in the US increased to 7.5% in January, the highest level since February 1982 and well above analysts' estimates of 7.3%.

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.19% to 35,698.57 while the NASDAQ fell 0.35% to 14,439.87. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.32% to 4,572.69.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares jumped by 1.2% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. NMG, up 8% and LSB Industries, Inc. LXU up 6%.

In trading on Thursday, information technology shares fell by 0.9%.

Top Headline

The Coca-Cola Company KO reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Coca-Cola reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.45 per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $0.41 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $9.50 billion, versus expectations of $8.96 billion.

Coca-Cola said it sees FY22 organic sales growth of 7% to 8% year over year.

Equities Trading UP

American Rebel Holdings, Inc. AREB shares shot up 47% to $3.17 following the company's recent uplisting to the Nasdaq.

Shares of Peabody Energy Corporation BTU got a boost, shooting 18% to $15.98 following strong quarterly results.

IronNet, Inc. IRNT shares were also up, gaining 27% to $4.4409 after the company announced an agreement with a Gulf Cooperation Council country to provide collective defense for critical national infrastructure.

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Equities Trading DOWN

Quantum Corporation QMCO shares tumbled 43% to $2.843 after the company reported mixed Q3 earnings results and issued Q4 EPS and sales guidance below estimates. Oppenheimer downgraded Quantum from Outperform to Perform, while B. Riley Securities downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral.

Shares of 2U, Inc. TWOU were down 43% to $10.26 after the company reported Q4 earnings results and issued FY22 revenue guidance. Berenberg and William Blair downgraded the stock.

EMCORE Corporation EMKR was down, falling 28% to $4.2185 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS results and issued Q2 sales guidance below estimates. Lake Street downgraded EMCORE from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $11 to $4.5.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.7% to $91.16, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,834.50.

Silver traded up 0.7% Thursday to $23.495 while copper rose 1.9% to $4.6890.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.01%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.51%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.47%. The German DAX gained 0.41%, French CAC 40 fell 0.27% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.3%.

Economics

The annual inflation rate in the US increased to 7.5% in January, the highest level since February 1982 and well above analysts' estimates of 7.3%.

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 16,000 to 223,000 in the week ended February 5th.

U.S. natural-gas supplies dipped 222 billion cubic feet last week, the EIA said.

The Treasury will auction 30-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin is set to speak at 7:00 p.m. ET.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 78,824,390 cases with around 935,920 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 42,478,060 cases and 506,540 deaths, while Brazil reported over 26,960,150 COVID-19 cases with 635,180 deaths. In total, there were at least 404,004,730 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 5,797,480 deaths.