Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; RH Earnings Beat Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.17% to 26049.42 while the NASDAQ rose 0.42% to 7,825.18. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.21% to 2,885.91.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 1.4% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Frontline Ltd. FRO, up 10%, and Nordic American Tankers Limited NAT, up 10%.

In trading on Thursday, real estate shares fell by 0.1%.

Top Headline

RH RH reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter and raised FY2019 guidance.

RH on Wednesday afternoon reported quarterly earnings of $1.85 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.55. The company reported quarterly sales of $598.421 million, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $586.62 million.

The company also raised FY2019 guidance from $8.01-$8.69 to $8.76-$9.27 versus $8.40 estimates.

Equities Trading UP

Coda Octopus Group, Inc. CODA shares shot up 48% to $14.40 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results.

Shares of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. RRGB got a boost, shooting up 26% to $31.99 following news Vintage Capital has suggested the company's Board conduct a review of strategic alternatives. The firm said it would be prepared to offer $40 per share for Red Robin following confirmatory due dilligence.

OpGen, Inc. OPGN shares were also up, gaining 42% to $0.5995 after the company announced new data which showed clinical utility for antibiotic-resistant urinary tract infection patient management.

Equities Trading DOWN

Savara Inc. SVRA shares tumbled 75% to $2.60. Savara said a Phase 3 study dubbed IMPALA that evaluated its Molgradex for the treatment of autoimmune alveolar pulmonary proteinosis, or aPAP, did not meet its primary endpoint. An average A-aDO2 improvement of 12.1 mmHg was observed in the continuous dosing compared to an 8.8 mmHg improvement in the placebo arm, with an estimated 4.6 mmHg treatment difference suggesting the primary endpoint was not met.

Shares of Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. RKDA were down 33% to $3.9725 after the company announced a direct offering of ~1.49 million shares at $5.035 per share.

Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. HEB was down, falling 24% to $5.12 after the company announced the first patient has been treated in the Phase 2 recurrent ovarian cancer program evaluating Ampligen in combination with Pembrolizumab and Cisplatin.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 3.7% to $53.04, while gold traded up 0.2% to $1,339.60.

Silver traded up 0.4% Thursday to $14.81, while copper fell 0.3% to $2.645.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.2%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.8%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.4%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.1% while UK shares rose 0.1%.

Economics

Initial jobless claims increased 3,000 to 222,000 last week. However, economists were expecting a reading of 216,000.

The import price index fell 0.3% for May, while export prices declined 0.2% for May.

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.

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