Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Wendys Posts Mixed Q4 Report

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.01 percent to 20,612.83 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.16 percent to 5,828.56. However, the S&P fell 0.02 percent to 2,348.68.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Technology shares climbed by 0.46 percent in trading on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included MoSys Inc. MOSY, and NetEase Inc (ADR) NTES.

In trading on Thursday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares fell by 0.11 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc BBW, down 29 percent, and MGM Resorts International MGM, down 8 percent.

Top Headline

Wendys Co WEN reported downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, but sales exceeded estimates

Wendys reported it earned $0.08 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $309.9 million. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.09 per share on revenue of $308.5 million.

Same-restaurant sales rose 0.8 percent in North America, or 5.6 percent on a two-year basis.

Equities Trading UP

NetEase Inc (ADR) NTES shares shot up 11 percent to $289.45 after reporting strong Q4 profit.

Shares of Superconductor Technologies, Inc. SCON got a boost, shooting up 46 percent to $1.68 as the company disclosed that it has been awarded a U.S. Patent for unique manufacturing process.

hhgregg, Inc. HGG shares were also up, gaining 10 percent to $0.474. hhgregg announced plans to explore strategic alternatives for the company.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tripadvisor Inc TRIP shares dropped 8 percent to $48.58 after the company posted weaker-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Shares of ConforMIS Inc CFMS were down around 39 percent to $5.26 after the company posted a wider-than-expected Q4 loss.

GNC Holdings Inc GNC was down, falling around 14 percent to $7.18 after the company posted weak Q4 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.30 percent to $53.76 while gold traded up 0.34 percent to $1,237.30.

Silver traded up 0.26 percent Thursday to $18.01, while copper fell 0.27 percent to $2.75.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.27 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.36 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.09 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.26 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.42 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.28 percent.

Economics

U.S. housing starts declined 2.6 percent at an annual rate of 1.25 million for January. Economists were expecting housing starts to total about 1.23 million.

U.S. jobless claims increased 5,000 to 239,000 in the latest week. Economists projected initial claims to total 245,000 in the week.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index rose to a reading of 43.3 in February, compared to 23.6 in January. However, economists expected a reading of 20 for February.

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

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