Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Rises Over 100 Points; NeoPhotonics Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.45 percent to 22,763.87 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.64 percent to 6,576.24. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.51 percent to 2,550.68.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, the financial shares surged 0.77 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Salisbury Bancorp, Inc. SAL, up 10 percent, and LNB Bancorp Inc LNBB, up 5 percent.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 0.19 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Sempra Energy SRE, down 3 percent, and NRG Energy Inc NRG down 2 percent.

Top Headline

Constellation Brands, Inc. STZ posted upbeat Q2 results and raised its FY18 outlook.

Constellation Brands reported Q2 adjusted earnings of $2.47 per share on sales of $2.085 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $2.17 per share on sales of $2.06 billion.

The company now expects FY18 adjusted earnings of $8.25 to $8.40 per share, versus prior forecast of $7.90 to $8.10 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Onvia, Inc. ONVI shares shot up 97 percent to $8.95 after the company agreed to be purchased by Deltek for $9 per share.

Shares of CareDx Inc CDNA got a boost, shooting up 42 percent to $6.27. CareDx priced its 4.3 million common stock offering at $4 per share.

Aptevo Therapeutics Inc APVO shares were also up, gaining 23 percent to $2.85. Piper Jaffray resumed coverage on Aptevo Therapeutics with an Overweight rating and a price target of $6.00.

Equities Trading DOWN

Intellicheck Inc IDN shares dropped 16 percent to $2.42. Intellicheck named Bill White as Interim President and CEO amid departure of William Roof

Shares of Navient Corp NAVI were down 13 percent to $12.74 after the company announced plans to buy Earnest for $155 million in cash and issued statement on claims made by the Pennsylvania Attorney General. Navient said that lawsuit from Pennsylvania Attorney General is unfounded and there are no allegations that the company violated rules governing student loan program. Compass Point downgraded Navient from Buy to Neutral.

NeoPhotonics Corp NPTN was down, falling around 13 percent to $5.08 after the company lowered its Q3 earnings outlook and reported the implementation of certain restructuring actions, including workforce reduction.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.54 percent to $50.75 while gold traded down 0.24 percent to $1,273.70.

Silver traded up 0.22 percent Thursday to $16.66, while copper rose 2.86 percent to $3.0435.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.16 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 2.51 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.49 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.02 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.30 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.54 percent.

Economics

The U.S. trade deficit declined 2.7 percent to $42.4 billion in August, versus $43.6 billion in July. However, economists were expecting a deficit of $42.6 billion. Imports dropped 0.1 percent to $237.7 billion in August, while exports gained 0.4 percent to $195.3 billion.

U.S. initial jobless claims declined 12,000 to 260,000 for the latest week. Economists projected claims to reach 265,000 last week.

U.S. factory orders rose 1.2 percent for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 1 percent growth.

Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 42 billion cubic feet for the week ended September 29, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 51 billion cubic feet.

Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George will speak in Austin at 4:30 p.m. ET.

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