Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Slides Over 100 Points; CSX Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.54 percent to 19,697.93 while the NASDAQ slipped 0.34 percent to 5,536.79. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.47 percent to 2,261.15.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Telecommunications services shares gained around 0.05 percent in trading on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Mobil'nye Telesistemy PAO (ADR) MBT, and TIM Participacoes SA (ADR) TSU.

In trading on Thursday, healthcare shares fell by 0.99 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Sangamo Therapeutics Inc SGMO, down 6 percent, and PharmAthene, Inc. PIP, down 6 percent.

Top Headline

Netflix, Inc. NFLX reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Wednesday.

Netflix reported Q4 EPS of $0.15 on revenue of $2.48 billion. Analysts expected earnings of 0.14 per share on revenue of.$2.47 billion.

The company added 1.93 million domestic subscribers and 5.12 million subscribers internationally during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

CSX Corporation CSX shares shot up 20 percent to $44.35 following a report that outgoing Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) CP CEO Hunter Harrison has teamed up with activist investor Paul Hilal to target a purchase of the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded CSX from Underweight to Equal-Weight.

Shares of Viewray Inc VRAY got a boost, shooting up 43 percent to $4.50. ViewRay disclosed that the German Research Foundation has purchased a MRIdian Linac for the University Clinic Heidelberg. On Wednesday, ViewRay also reported that it has raised $26.1 million in private placement.

Oclaro, Inc. OCLR shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $9.46 after the company reported strong preliminary results for its second quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Inc ZYNE shares dropped 17 percent to $18.61 after the company reported a proposed public offering of common stock.

Shares of Rent-A-Center Inc RCII were down around 21 percent to $8.09 after the company issued a weak Q4 forecast.

DryShips Inc. DRYS was down, falling around 28 percent to $1.14. DryShips reported a 1-for-8 reverse stock split.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.17 percent to $51.98 while gold traded down 0.86 percent to $1,201.70.

Silver traded down 1.73 percent Thursday to $16.98, while copper fell 0.36 percent to $2.61.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.06 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.08 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.69 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.02 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.25 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.54 percent.

Economics

Housing starts rose 11.3 percent in December to an annual pace of 1.23 million. Economists expected a rate of 1.2 million for December.

Initial jobless claims dropped 15,000 to 234,000 in the week ended January 14. However, economists were projecting claims to reach 245,000 in the week.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index rose to 23.60 in January, versus a prior reading of 21.50. Economists estimated a reading of 15.80.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John C. Williams is set to speak in Fairfield, Calif. at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Natural gas supplies dropped 243 billion cubic feet for the latest week, the Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts were expecting a decline of 231 billion cubic feet.

Crude oil supplies rose 2.35 million barrels for the week ended January 13, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a drop of 342,000 barrels. Gasoline supplies rose 6 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles dropped 1 million barrels.

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

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is set to speak in Stanford, Calif. at 8:00 p.m. ET.