Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Ferroglobe Rises After Q1 Results; Great Basin Scientific Shares Drop

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.44 percent to 20,895.85 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.64 percent to 6,122.41. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.45 percent to 2,392.43.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector was the top gainer in the US market on Monday. Top gainers in the sector included Nutraceutical Int'l Corp. NUTR, BRF SA (ADR) BRFS, and Chefs' Warehouse Inc CHEF.

In trading on Monday, energy shares fell 0.12 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Chesapeake Granite Wash Trust CHKR, down 6 percent, and Natural Resource Partners LP NRP, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation BAH posted better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Booz Allen reported earnings of $0.45 per share in the quarter on revenue of $1.58 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.43 per share on revenue of $1.48 billion.

Booz Allen expects FY 2018 earnings of $1.79 to $1.89 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $1.73 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Nutraceutical Int'l Corp. NUTR shares shot up 50 percent to $42.08 after the company agreed to be acquired by HGGC for $41.80 per share in cash.

Shares of Ferroglobe PLC GSM got a boost, shooting up 10 percent to $10.17 after the company posted a narrower-than-expected Q1 loss.

Puma Biotechnology Inc PBYI shares were also up, gaining 37 percent to $51.75 as briefing documents for Wednesday Advisory Committee meeting are published to the FDA website. The documents showed that neratinib performed better than Roche's trastuzumab in I-SPY2 trial, particularly in subgroup of patients that were HRc negative. The briefing docs also showed that study 3004 met prespecified primary efficacy endpoint.

Equities Trading DOWN

Great Basin Scientific Inc GBSN shares dropped 18 percent to $0.92 on Q1 results. Great Basin Scientific posted Q1 net income of $21,503,600, versus a year-ago net loss of $33,652,500.

Shares of Diana Containerships Inc DCIX were down 8 percent to $0.433. Diana Containerships reported a Q1 loss of $0.80 per share on sales of $3.77 million.

Zoe's Kitchen Inc ZOES was down, falling around 9 percent to $16.58. Baird downgraded Zoe's Kitchen from Outperform to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.64 percent to $50.65 while gold traded up 0.68 percent to $1,262.10.

Silver traded up 2.35 percent Monday to $17.19, while copper rose 0.62 percent to $2.5975.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.09 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index declined 0.39 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 1.15 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.15 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.03 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.34 percent.

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index rose to 0.49 for April, versus a prior reading of 0.08. However, economists were expecting a reading of 0.25.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will then speak at the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Conference at 6:45 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak in Minneapolis at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans is set to speak in Shanghai China at 9:10 p.m. ET.