Dow Falls 50 Points; Walgreens Posts Downbeat Earnings

U.S. stocks traded mixed midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index falling more than 50 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded down 0.16% to 33,752.37 while the NASDAQ rose 0.20% to 13,687.19. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.02% to 4,376.26.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares surged by 0.8% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares fell by 0.5%.

Top Headline

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Thursday.

The company’s quarterly sales increased 9.2% Y/Y to $35.4 billion, up 8.3% on a constant currency basis, beating the consensus of $34.82 billion. Adjusted EPS decreased 18% to $0.67, reflecting a 23.5% headwind from significantly lower COVID-19 vaccine and testing volumes, missing the consensus of $0.69.

Walgreens Boots Alliance said it sees FY24 adjusted EPS of $3.20-$3.50 compared to the consensus Of $3.73, and down from $3.98 in FY23. It expects FY24 sales of $141 billion-$145 billion versus the consensus of $144.36 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Secoo Holding Limited SECO shares shot up 513% to $1.9633 after gaining around 12% on Wednesday.

Shares of OpGen, Inc. OPGN got a boost, shooting 808% to $3.05 following two SEC filings from the precision medicine company. The company has received an advanced payment of €750,000 related to the sale of certain Unyvero A50 systems by Curetis to a strategic partner. OpGen also announced a Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement. It signed an agreement with a certain investor to acquire 1,000 shares priced at $1,000 each, with gross proceeds of $1 million.

BSQUARE Corporation BSQR shares were also up, gaining 48% to $1.8311. Kontron America agreed to acquire BSQUARE for $1.90 per share in an all-cash transaction, representing an implied equity value of $38 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

RVL Pharmaceuticals plc RVLP shares dropped 52% to $0.0753. RVL Pharmaceuticals said certain of its U.S. operating subsidiaries, have agreed with their secured lenders, Athyrium Capital Management, and other key stakeholders, to effectuate a change of control transaction through prepackaged bankruptcy cases.

Shares of Soluna Holdings, Inc. SLNH were down 29% to $0.1950. Soluna reported a 1-for-25 reverse stock split.

T2 Biosystems, Inc. TTOO was down, falling 42% to $0.1813. T2 Biosystems announced a 1-for-100 reverse stock split, effective today.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.3% to $84.57 while gold traded down 0.1% at $1,886.90.

Silver traded down 0.2% to $22.08 on Thursday while copper fell 0.5% to $3.5940.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.36% London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.37% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.17% The German DAX fell 0.15% French CAC 40 fell 0.20%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.32%.

The British economy expanded by 0.2% month-over-month in August following a revised 0.6% contraction in the previous month. The UK’s trade deficit increased to £3.415 billion in August from £1.418 billion in the prior month as exports fell to a 14-month low. Industrial production in the UK fell 0.7% month-over-month in August.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.75%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.94% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 1.93%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, slipped 0.1%.

Producer prices in Japan increased by 2.0% year-over-year in September versus a revised 3.3% increase in August. Japan's core machinery orders declined 0.5% month-over-month in August following a 1.1% drop in the previous month.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims came in unchanged from the previous week at 209,000 in the week ended Oct. 7, compared to market expectations of 210,000.

The U.S. inflation rate came in steady at 3.7% for September, compared to market estimates of 3.6%. The annual core consumer price inflation rate eased to 4.1% in September from 4.3% in the previous month.

U.S. natural-gas supplies increased 84 billion cubic feet last week, the EIA said.

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