Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 1.5%; American Electric Technologies Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.80 percent to 24,831.92 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.33 percent to 7,579.35. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.35 percent to 2,744.23.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Monday, the consumer staples shares surged 0.75 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included CV Sciences, Inc. CVSI up 21 percent, and BRF S.A. BRFS up 4 percent.

In trading on Monday, utilities shares fell 0.66 percent.

Top Headline

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. PANW posted stronger-than-expected results for its fiscal third quarter.

Palo Alto posted adjusted earnings of $0.99 per share on revenue of $567.1 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.96 per share on revenue of $545.72 million.

Palo Alto Networks expects Q4 sales of $625 million to $635 million and earnings of $1.15 to $1.17 per share. Analysts projected sales of $618 million and earnings of $1.21 per share. The company expects FY18 sales of $2.24 billion to $2.25 billion and EPS of $3.86 to $3.89.

Equities Trading UP

American Electric Technologies, Inc AETI shares shot up 177 percent to $2.05 after the company’s M&I Electric business announced a $14 million project with a leading Engineering, Procurement and Construction firm.

Shares of BIO-key International, Inc. BKYI got a boost, shooting up 31 percent to $2.9248. BIO-key International disclosed that it has completed conversion of all outstanding preferred stock into common stock at a conversion price of $3.60 per share.

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. DCPH shares were also up, gaining 30 percent to $33.795 after the company reported updated interim Phase 1 clinical study results with DCC-2618 at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

Equities Trading DOWN

Nektar Therapeutics NKTR shares dropped 41 percent to $53.05. Nektar and Bristol-Myers Squibb reported preliminary data for NKTR-214 in combination with opdivo for patients with Stage IV metastatic melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, and urothelial cancers.

Shares of Jounce Therapeutics, Inc. JNCE were down 36 percent to $7.1900 after the company presented preliminary data from its ongoing Phase 1/2 ICONIC trial of JTX-2011 in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Vaxart, Inc. VXRT was down, falling around 17 percent to $4.339 as the company disclosed that its Phase 2 trial of teslexivir did not meet its primary endpoint.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5 percent to $64.80 while gold traded up 0.03 percent to $1,299.70.

Silver traded up 0.33 percent Monday to $16.495, while copper rose 1.26 to $3.1375.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.2 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.1 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.82 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.21 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.07 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.43 percent.

Economics

U.S. factory orders fell 0.8 percent for April, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.5 percent drop.