Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Philip Morris Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.48 percent to 25,582.53 while the NASDAQ declined 0.76 percent to 7,584.60. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.48 percent to 2,795.79.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the consumer staples shares rose by 0.38 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Philip Morris International Inc. PM up 5 percent, and Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc NGVC up 4 percent.

In trading on Thursday, communication services shares fell 1.34 percent.


Top Headline

Philip Morris International Inc. ABT reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter.

Philip Morris posted quarterly earnings of $1.44 per share on revenue of $7.5 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.28 per share on sales of $7.17 billion. Philip Morris reaffirmed its FY18 earnings guidance of $4.97 to $5.02 per share.

 

Equities Trading UP

Endocyte, Inc. ECYT shares shot up 51 percent to $23.435 after the company agreed to be acquired by Novartis AG NVS for $24 per share.

Shares of Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc. PTI got a boost, shooting up 330 percent to $8.13 following positive preliminary results from its proprietary doublet in cystic fibrosis patients. PTI-801 and PTI-808 achieved statistical significance on all endpoints.

Yulong Eco-Materials Limited YECO shares were also up, gaining 38 percent to $14.0500 after climbing 571.05 percent on Wednesday.


Equities Trading DOWN

Insteel Industries, Inc. IIIN shares dropped 13 percent to $29.335 after the company reported downbeat Q4 results.

Shares of Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. TCBI were down 11 percent to $68.80 after reporting a third-quarter earnings miss.

Textron Inc. TXT was down, falling around 8 percent to $59.78 after the company reported downbeat earnings for its third quarter and narrowed its FY18 adjusted earnings guidance.


Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1.43 percent to $68.75 while gold traded up 0.11 percent to $1,228.70.

Silver traded down 0.23 percent Thursday to $14.63, while copper fell 1.39 to $2.7395.



Eurozone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.12 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.59 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.63 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.03 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.42 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.03 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims slipped 5,000 to 210,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a reading of 214,000.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index dropped to 22.2 for October, versus a reading of 22.9 in September. Economists projected a reading of 19.7.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.5 percent for September.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

US Federal Reserve Bank Vice Chairman Randal K. Quarles will speak in New York, NY at 12:15 p.m. ET.

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

Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Morning Market Update
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