Mid-Day Market Update: ShoreTel Gains On Acquisition News; Neuralstem Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.28 percent to 21,772.30 while the NASDAQ gained 0.53 percent to 6,456.58. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.19 percent to 2,482.58.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Telecommunications services shares climbed by 1.62 percent in the US market on Thursday. Top gainers in the sector included Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, and Frontier Communications Corp FTR.

In trading on Thursday, healthcare shares fell 0.53 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Community Health Systems CYH, down 16 percent, and AstraZeneca plc (ADR) AZN, down 14 percent.

Top Headline

Facebook Inc FB reported stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter on Wednesday.

Second-quarter earnings came in at $1.32 per share, topping estimates by 19 cents. Facebook delivered sales of $9.321 billion in the quarter, $121 million higher than analyst estimates.

Equities Trading UP

ShoreTel Inc SHOR shares shot up 27 percent to $7.45. Mitel Networks Corp MITL announced plans to acquire Shortel for $7.50 per share in cash.

Shares of NetGear, Inc. NTGR got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $51.10 after the company posted strong Q2 results.

LivePerson, Inc. LPSN shares were also up, gaining 18 percent to $13.40. LivePerson reported Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.01 per share on revenue of $54.074 million. The company also issued a strong outlook for the current quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

IntelliPharmaCeutics Intl Inc (USA) IPCI shares dropped 42 percent to $1.46 as the company disclosed that a FDA panel voted against approving the company’s NDA for Rexista™ abuse-deterrent oxycodone hydrochloride extended release tablets.

Shares of Neuralstem, Inc. CUR were down 28 percent to $1.78. Neuralstem reported the pricing of public offering of common stock and warrants.

PCM Inc PCMI was down, falling around 22 percent to $15.40. PCM reported Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.47 per share on sales of $560.1 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.45 percent to $48.97 while gold traded up 0.62 percent to $1,263.30.

Silver traded up 0.83 percent Thursday to $16.595, while copper rose 0.09 percent to $2.8745.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.12 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.05 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.26 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.76 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.06 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.12 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims increased to 244,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 241,000 in the week.

The advanced trade in goods slipped 3.7 percent in June to $63.9 billion.

U.S. durable goods orders rose 6.50 percent for June, versus economists’ expectations for a 3.00 percent growth.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index rose to 0.13 for June, versus prior reading of -0.26. Economists projected a reading of 0.35.

Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 17 billion cubic feet for the week ended July 21, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a gain of 24 billion cubic feet.

The Treasury is set to auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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