Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; Alibaba Earnings Miss Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.11 percent to 26,120.63 while the NASDAQ declined 0.03 percent to 7,409.34. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.06 percent to 2,822.18.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the energy shares gained by 0.32 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. ZN, up 16 percent, and Transocean LTD RIG, up 5 percent.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares tumbled 0.34 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included SCANA Corporation SCG, down 3 percent, and WEC Energy Group Inc WEC down 2 percent.

Top Headline

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA reported a profit miss in its fiscal third quarter report, but sales did come in above expectations. The company also announced plans to buy a 33 percent stake in Ant Financial.

Alibaba posted quarterly earnings of $1.63 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $12.761 billion. However, Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.67 per share on revenue of $12.68 billion.

Equities Trading UP

QuinStreet Inc QNST shares shot up 31 percent to $12.24 after reporting a second quarter earnings beat. The company guided FY18 revenues outlook at 20 percent growth.

Shares of Liquidity Services, Inc. LQDT got a boost, shooting up 13 percent to $5.425 after the company posted a narrower-than-expected Q1 loss.

Qorvo, Inc. QRVO shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $82.77 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Resolute Forest Products Inc. RFP shares dropped 23 percent to $8.90. Resolute Forest Products reported Q4 net income of $13 million, after posting a loss in the year-ago period. Resolute Forest Products named Yves Laflamme as President and CEO.

Shares of NIC Inc. EGOV were down 19 percent to $13.475. NIC reported Q4 earnings of $0.16 per share.

Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. ESIO was down, falling around 13 percent to $20.38 following Q3 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1 percent to $65.38 while gold traded up 0.01 percent to $1,343.10.

Silver traded down 0.64 percent Thursday to $17.13, while copper fell 0.14 percent to $3.191.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.27 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.07 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.46 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 1.08 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.35 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.47 percent.

Economics

U.S. jobless claims dropped 1,000 to 230,000 in the latest week. However, economists projected claims to reach 240,000 last week.

U.S. nonfarm productivity declined at an annual pace of 0.1 percent for the fourth quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent gain. Unit-labor costs gained 2 percent for the fourth quarter.

U.S. Markit manufacturing PMI rose to 55.50 for January, versus prior reading of 55.00. However, economists were expecting a reading of 55.50.

U.S. construction spending gained 0.7 percent for December.

The ISM manufacturing index slipped to 59.10 for January, versus previous reading of 59.30. Economists estimated a reading of 58.80.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

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