Mid-Day Market Update: Build-A-Bear Falls On Earnings Miss; Denny's Shares Surge

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.11 percent to 20,589.38 while the NASDAQ declined 0.23 percent to 5,805.87. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.27 percent to 2,342.79.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Technology shares climbed by 0.24 percent in trading on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Synopsys, Inc. SNPS, and NetEase Inc (ADR) NTES.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell by 0.61 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. HOS, down 21 percent, and SunPower Corporation SPWR, down 7 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 12 percent to $292.86 after the company reported upbeat Q4 profit.

Shares of Superconductor Technologies, Inc. SCON got a boost, shooting up 29 percent to $1.49 as the company disclosed that it has been awarded a U.S. Patent for unique manufacturing process.

Denny's Corporation DENN shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $13.65 after the company posted strong Q4 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. HOS shares dropped 21 percent to $5.11. Hornbeck Offshore reported a Q4 loss of $19.2 million on revenue of $41.9 million.

Shares of ConforMIS Inc CFMS were down around 33 percent to $5.73 after the company posted a wider-than-expected Q4 loss.

Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc BBW was down, falling around 29 percent to $8.45 after the company reported downbeat Q4 earnings.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.56 percent to $53.30 while gold traded up 0.75 percent to $1,242.30.

Silver traded up 0.79 percent Thursday to $18.18, while copper fell 0.91 percent to $2.74.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.40 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.39 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.19 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.42 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.48 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.40 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.

Supplies of natural gas dropped 114 billion cubic feet for the week ended February 10, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts expected a decline of 124 billion cubic feet.

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