Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASDAQ Turns Positive; Redfin Shares Gain On Narrower-Than-Expected Loss

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.14% to 29510.15 while the NASDAQ rose 0.19% to 9,744.11. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.11% to 3,383.26.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares climbed 0.9% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Genie Energy Ltd. GNE, up 4%, and Duke Energy Corporation DUK, up 3%.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 0.7%.

Top Headline

PepsiCo, Inc. PEP reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

PepsiCo reported fourth-quarter EPS at $1.45, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.44. The company reported revenue at $20.64 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $20.27 billion.

PepsiCo said it projects 2020 adjusted EPS growth of 7% and organic revenue growth of 4%. The company also announced plans to lift its dividend by 7% to $4.09 per share.

Equities Trading UP

CounterPath Corporation CPAH shares shot up 22% to $2.6152 after the company announced it has secured a 5-year deal with Vodafone Fiji to extend superior quality voice services to consumers.

Shares of Exterran Corporation EXTN got a boost, shooting 20% to $5.50 after the company issued Q4 operational update. Exterran expects Q4 preliminary sales of $265 million to $275 million.

Redfin Corporation RDFN shares were also up, gaining 14% to $29.16 after the company reported a narrower-than-expected Q4 loss. The company’s sales also exceeded estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. CBIO shares tumbled 19% to $6.47 after the company priced 4.615 million share common stock offering at $6.50 per share.

Shares of Marchex, Inc. MCHX were down 20% to $3.2350 after the company reported Q4 results.

SunPower Corporation SPWR was down, falling 17% to $9.05 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 sales. Cowen & Co also downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.5% to $51.42, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,579.10.

Silver traded up 0.8% Thursday to $17.635, while copper rose 0.5% to $2.6135.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.02%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.31%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.12% Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.03%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.19% while UK shares fell 1.09%.

Economics

The consumer price index increased 0.1% in January, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1% increase.

Initial jobless claims increased 2,000 to 205,000 in the latest week. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 210,000.

Domestic supplies of natural gas dropped 115 billion cubic feet for the week ended February 7, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a fall of 108 billion cubic feet.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams will speak at 5:30 p.m. ET.

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