Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Best Buy Profit Tops Expectations

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 1.48 percent to 25394 while the NASDAQ fell 1.58 percent to 7,628. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.4 percent to 2,816.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose by 0.3 percent on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Empresa Distribuidora y Cmrz Nrt SA EDN, up 1 percent, and PPL Corp PPL, up 1 percent.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell by 3.3 percent.

Top Headline

Best Buy Co Inc BBY reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Best Buy reported first quarterly earnings of $1.02 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 86 cents by 18.6 percent. The company reported sales of $9.142 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $9.13 billion by 0.13 percent.

Equities Trading UP

L Brands, Inc. LB shares shot up 14 percent to $24.58 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 sales results. The company also raised the low end of FY19 EPS guidance.

Shares of S&W Seed Company SANW got a boost, shooting up 14 percent to $2.84 after the company announced an agreement with Corteva Agriscience which the company will receive $45 million in cash and $25 million in payments.

Neovasc Inc NVCN shares were also up, gaining 60 percent to $0.75 following news 2-year follow-up safety and efficacy data for its Neovasc Reducer was published in the International Journal of Cardiology.

Equities Trading DOWN

T2 Biosystems Inc TTOO shares tumbled 30 percent to $1.78 after a Seeking Alpha blogpost from Mako Research called the company "a disaster in progress."

Shares of Bluegreen Vacations Corp BXG were down 27 percent to $10.85. BBX Capital disclosed that it will not proceed with merger with Bluegreen Vacations.

Citi Trends, Inc. CTRN was down, falling 18 percent to $14.04 after the company reported downbeat earnings for its first quarter and lowered its FY19 outlook.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.7 percent to $60.36, while gold traded up 0.3 percent to $1,277.80.

Silver traded up 0.3 percent Thursday to $14.485, while copper fell 0.6 percent to $2.6625.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.2 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index declined 1.1 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 1.5 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 1.5 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 1.5 percent while UK shares dropped 1.2 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims fell 1,000 to 211,000 last week. However, economists projected a reading of 217,000.

The flash manufacturing PMI fell to 50.6 in May, versus a reading of 52.6 in April, while services PMI slipped to 50.9 in May from 53.

New-home sales fell 6.9 percent at an annual rate of 673,000 in April.

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 May will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

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

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Dallas, TX at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Tom Barkin will speak in Dallas, TX at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Dallas, TX at 1:00 p.m. ET.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly will speak in Dallas, TX at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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