Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down Over 1%; Recro Pharma Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.31 percent to 24,808.84 while the NASDAQ declined 0.07 percent to 7,420.77. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.20 percent to 2,727.79.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, the telecommunication services shares surged 0.58 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Intelsat S.A. I, up 5 percent, and Cellcom Israel Ltd. CEL up 2.5 percent.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 1.34 percent.

Top Headline

McKesson Corporation MCK reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter.

The company posted adjusted earnings of $3.49 per share on revenue of $51.63 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $3.56 per share on revenue of $51.25 billion.

McKesson projects full-year earnings of $13 to $13.80 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Stellar Biotechnologies, Inc. SBOT shares shot up 36 percent to $2.9868 after the company disclosed that it achieved robust viral clearance for its manufacturing process.

Shares of Comstock Holding Companies, Inc. CHCI got a boost, shooting up 128 percent to $4.5999. Comstock reported conversion of the majority of its unsecured, short-term debt into non-convertible preferred equity.

Universal Corporation UVV shares were also up, gaining 31 percent to $63.25 after the company reported fiscal Q4 results. The company announced a 36 percent dividend increase and an enhanced capital allocation strategy.

Equities Trading DOWN

Recro Pharma, Inc. REPH shares dropped 54 percent to $5.68 after the company received a Complete Response Letter from the FDA. The firm announced Thursday morning that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to approve its IV meloxicam application for non-opioid pain relief "in its current form." The Complete Response Letter acknowledged statistically significant outcomes for the primary endpoints but said analgesic effects did not meet FDA expectations and raised questions related to chemistry, manufacturing and controls data.

Shares of Bristow Group Inc. BRS were down 19 percent to $14.65 after reporting Q4 results. The company also reported a three-year contract extension in Norwich.

Luxoft Holding, Inc. LXFT was down, falling around 26 percent to $32.15. Luxoft posted in-line Q4 earnings, but issued weak forecast for the current quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.11 percent to $71.04 while gold traded up 1.14 percent to $1,309.50.

Silver traded up 1.77 percent Thursday to $16.695, while copper rose 0.96 to $3.10.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.52 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.29 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.71 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.94 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.31 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.92 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims increased 11,000 to 234,000 in the latest week. Economists expected claims to reach 219,000 last week.

Existing home sales declined 2.5 percent to an annual rate of 5.46 million for April. However, economists were expecting a 5.56 million rate.

Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 91 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 18, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a gain of 91 billion cubic feet.

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