Mid-Day Market Update: U.S. Stocks Turn Lower; Novavax Shares Gain On Positive Data

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.28 percent to 24,958.07 while the NASDAQ declined 0.20 percent to 7,258.37. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.18 percent to 2,708.86.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained 0.67 percent.

In trading on Thursday, technology shares tumbled 0.36 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Overstock.com Inc OSTK, down 5 percent, and QAD Inc. QADB down 4 percent.


Top Headline

Best Buy Co Inc BBY reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

The company said it earned $2.42 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $15.3 billion versus expectations of $2.04 per share on revenue of $14.5 billion.

Best Buy expects FY19 sales of $41 billion to $42 billion and earnings of $4.80 to $5.00 per share. The company projects Q1 sales of $8.65 billion to $8.75 billion and earnings of $0.68 to $0.73 per share.


Equities Trading UP

Tenax Therapeutics Inc TENX shares shot up 95 percent to $9.05 as the company reported the publication of preclinical data showing added evidence of levosimendan treatment effects in pulmonary hypertension.

Shares of Novavax, Inc. NVAX got a boost, shooting up 13 percent to $2.45 after management announced the NanoFlu Vaccine demonstrated improved immune responses over alternative flu vaccines.

AxoGen, Inc. AXGN shares were also up, gaining 18 percent to $34.60 as the company posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss.

Equities Trading DOWN

Colony NorthStar, Inc. CLNS shares dropped 26 percent to $5.76. Colony NorthStar reported a Q4 GAAP loss of $0.69 per share and announced a $300 million buyback plan.

Shares of Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PTLA were down 24 percent to $32.13. Portola Pharma reported Q4 loss of $1.41 per share.
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Patterson Companies, Inc. PDCO was down, falling around 22 percent to $24.51 following weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings.


Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.97 percent to $61.04 while gold traded down 0.49 percent to $1,311.50.

Silver traded down 0.32 percent Thursday to $16.355, while copper rose 0.03 percent to $3.1335.


Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.26 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.03 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.70 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 1.97 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 1.09 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.78 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims declined 10,000 to 210,000 in the latest week. Economists expected claims to reach 226,000.

U.S. consumer spending rose 0.2 percent for January, while real disposable income rose 0.9 percent.

The Markit manufacturing PMI slipped to 55.30 for April, versus prior reading of 55.50. Economists expected a reading of 55.90.

U.S. construction spending was unchanged for January.

The ISM manufacturing index climbed to 60.8 in February, versus 59.1 in January. However, economists expected a reading of 59.

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

Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Day Market Update
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