Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Southwest Airlines Earnings Beat Expectations

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.2 percent to 24,526.85 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.4 percent to 7,054.06. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01 percent to 2,638.76.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the information technology shares climbed 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Xilinx, Inc. XLNX up 18 percent, and Lam Research Corporation LRCX up 14 percent.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares fell 1.5 percent.

Top Headline

Southwest Airlines Co LUV reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Southwest posted quarterly earnings of $1.17 per share on revenue of $5.704 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.07 per share on revenue of $5.67 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

Aspen Technology, Inc. AZPN shares got a boost, shooting up 14 percent to $101.87 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results.

Shares of Triumph Group, Inc. TGI shot up 28 percent to $16.96 after the company reported a deal to transition Global 7500 program to Bombardier.

Xilinx, Inc. XLNX shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $104.64 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter and issued strong fourth-quarter sales guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Briggs & Stratton Corporation BGG shares dropped 15 percent to $11.59 after the company missed Q2 EPS estimates. The company also cut FY19 EPS and sales guidance.

Shares of McCormick & Company, Incorporated MKC were down 11 percent to $124.21 after the company reported downbeat results for its fourth quarter and issued weak FY19 earnings forecast.

NuCana plc NCNA was down, falling around 12 percent to $12.45 after announcing a $75 million ADS offering.

 

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.7 percent to $52.25 while gold traded down 0.56 percent to $1,283.00.

Silver traded down 0.78 percent Thursday to $15.26, while copper fell 0.6 percent to $2.6385.

 

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.38 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 0.67 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 1.08 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.49 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.81 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.32 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims declined 13,000 to 199,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a 219,000 reading.

The Markit manufacturing PMI increased to 54.9 in December, versus prior reading of 53.8. The services index dropped to 54.2 versus 54.4.

The index of leading economic indicators declined 0.1 percent for December.

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

The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for January will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The EIA’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is schedule for release at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

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