Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Movado Gains On Earnings Beat; Proteon Therapeutics Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.2 percent to 25,675.84 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.22 percent to 7,660.33. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.2 percent to 2,811.08.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, the materials shares rose 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Forterra, Inc. FRTA up 8 percent, and Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. RYAM up 5 percent.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 1.3 percent.

Top Headline

Accenture Plc ACN reported upbeat results for its second quarter and raised its FY19 EPS guidance.

Accenture reported quarterly earnings of $1.73 per share on sales of $10.5 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.57 per share on sales of $10.3 billion.

Accenture said it expects Q3 sales of $10.80 billion to $11.10 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $11.05 billion. Accenture raised its FY19 EPS guidance from $7.01-$7.25 to $7.18-$7.32.

 

Equities Trading UP

Quantenna Communications, Inc. QTNA shares got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $24.14 after the company announced it would be acquired by ON Semiconductor Corporation ON for $24.50 per share.

Shares of Movado Group, Inc. MOV shot up 21 percent to $39.50 after reporting upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter.

Tricida, Inc. TCDA shares were also up, gaining 47 percent to $35.30 after the company announced its TRCA-301E trial met its primary and all secondary endpoints. The company reported better-than-expected Q4 EPS and announced positive results from its long-term clinical trial of TRC101.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

Proteon Therapeutics, Inc. PRTO shares dropped 85 percent to $0.51 after the company announced its Phase 3 trial of PATENCY-2 did not meet its primary endpoint.

Shares of American Renal Associates Holdings, Inc. ARA were down 39 percent to $5.92 after the company stated its CFO resigned amid audit work. The company is being investigated by Block & Leviton LLP for violations of federal securities law.

Reebonz Holding Limited RBZ was down, falling around 49 percent to $14.35 after climbing 220.00 percent on Wednesday. Reebonz announced a $20,000,000 ordinary share offering. The offering has not yet been priced.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3 percent to $59.22 while gold traded down 1.6 percent to $1,296.50.

Silver traded down 2 percent Thursday to $15.00, while copper rose 0.5 percent to $2.8785.

 

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.12 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.6 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.53 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.08 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.09 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.56 percent.

Economics

U.S. economy expanded at an annual pace of 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter, versus an initial 2.6 percent estimate. However, analysts projected a 2.4 percent growth rate.

U.S. initial jobless claims fell 5,000 to 211,000 for the latest week. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 220,000.

The pending home sales index fell 1 percent for February.

Domestic supplies of natural gas dropped 36 billion cubic feet for the week ended March 22, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a fall of 40 billion cubic feet.

Data on farm prices for February will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard is set to speak in Madison, WI at 6:20 p.m. ET.