Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Wal-Mart Beats Q2 Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.54 percent to 21,906.63 while the NASDAQ declined 0.94 percent to 6,285.50. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.62 percent to 2,452.76.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares climbed by 0.46 percent.

In trading on Thursday, technology shares fell by 0.60 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included NetApp Inc. NTAP, down 6 percent, and Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Wal-Mart Stores Inc WMT reported stronger-than-expected results for its second-quarter.

Wal-Mart said it earned $1.08 per share in the quarter on revenue of $123.4 billion. Analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.07 per share on revenue of $122.8 billion.

Looking forward, Walmart guided its third-quarter earnings per share to be in a range of 90–98 cents while analysts were modeling the company to earn 98 cents per share. For the full fiscal year 2018, the company guided its earnings per share to be $4.30–$4.40 versus expectations of $4.37 per share.

Equities Trading UP

China Lodging Group, Ltd (ADR) HTHT shares shot up 7 percent to $107.10 after the company reported strong results for its second quarter.

Shares of Molina Healthcare, Inc. MOH got a boost, shooting up 5 percent to $59.68. Morgan Stanley upgraded Molina Healthcare from Underweight to Overweight and raised the price target from $65 to $68.

U.S. Silica Holdings Inc SLCA shares were also up, gaining 6 percent to $26.26. U.S. Silica disclosed that it has acquired Mississippi Sand for $95.4 million in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Briggs & Stratton Corporation BGG shares dropped 12 percent to $21.30 after the company reported downbeat results for its fourth quarter and issued a weak forecast for the full year.

Shares of Lakeland Industries, Inc. LAKE were down 13 percent to $13.68. Lakeland priced its 725,000 share offering at $13.80 per share. Lakeland expects Q2 earnings of $0.19 to $0.21 per share on sales of $23 million to $25 million.

Gain Capital Holdings Inc GCAP was down, falling around 12 percent to $6.02. GAIN Capital priced its $80 million of Convertible Senior Notes due 2022.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.49 percent to $46.55 while gold traded up 0.62 percent to $1,290.80.

Silver traded up 0.62 percent Thursday to $17.045, while copper fell 0.36 percent to $2.943.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.18 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.56 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.24 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.16 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.25 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.43 percent.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims declined 12,000 to 232,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 240,000 last week.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index dropped to 18.90 for August, versus a prior reading of 19.50. Economists projected a reading of 18.50.

U.S. industrial production rose 0.2 percent for July, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent growth.

The index of leading economic indicators gained 0.3 percent for July.

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

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

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in Edina, Minnesota at 1:45 p.m. ET.

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