Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Bed Bath & Beyond Profit Tops Expectations

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.28 percent to 23,811.68 while the NASDAQ declined 0.46 percent to 6,924.79. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.4 percent to 2,574.62.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the utilities shares climbed 0.3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PG&E Corporation PCG up 7 percent, and Korea Electric Power Corporation KEP up 4 percent.

In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary shares fell 1.3 percent.

Top Headline

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc BBBY reported upbeat profit for its third quarter and issued strong earnings forecast for 2019 on Wednesday.

Bed Bath & Beyond posted quarterly earnings of $0.18 per share on sales of $3.03 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.17 per share on sales of $3.04 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

Inpixon INPX shares got a boost, shooting up 46 percent to $4.7885 after the company disclosed that its Indoor Positioning Analytics Sensor 4000SE has been selected to be used related to 'Smart School' safety network solution.

Shares of Diana Containerships Inc. DCIX shot up 38 percent to $1.10 after reporting a $6 million common share buyback program.

Veritone, Inc. VERI shares were also up, gaining 21 percent to $5.44 after the company announced it expects to see Q4 sales above estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. ELF shares dropped 14 percent to $8.47 after analysts at Wells Fargo downgraded the stock to 'Underperform', citing concerns that fundamentals are 'deteriorating further.'

Shares of Macy's, Inc. M were down 19 percent to $25.63 after the company reported sales results for the months of November and December and lowered its FY18 guidance.

Cancer Genetics, Inc. CGIX was down, falling around 32 percent to $0.2370 after the company announced a proposed public offering of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.07 percent to $51.80 while gold traded down 0.02 percent to $1,291.70.

Silver traded down 0.22 percent Thursday to $15.70, while copper fell 0.73 percent to $2.6385.

 

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.09 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.03 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.07 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.12 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.53 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.22 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims fell 17,000 to 216,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a 227,000 reading.

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

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard will speak in Little Rock, AR at 12:40 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is set to speak in Washington, DC at 12:40 p.m. ET.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans will speak in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari is set to speak in Minneapolis, MN at 1:20 p.m. ET.

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

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida will speak in New York at 7:00 p.m. ET.