Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dun & Bradstreet Drops On Earnings Miss; OraSure Shares Surge

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.71 percent to 20,196.00 while the NASDAQ gained 0.64 percent to 5,719.03. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.63 percent to 2,309.14.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Cyclical consumer goods & services shares rose by 0.88 percent in trading on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Marchex, Inc. MCHX, and Radiant Logistics Inc RLGT.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares dropped by 0.69 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Calpine Corporation CPN, down 4 percent, and Genie Energy Ltd GNE, down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Twitter Inc TWTR better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, but sales missed expectations. The company also issued a tepid outlook.

The company reported a GAAP net loss of $167 million, or $0.23 per share for the fourth quarter. Excluding $101 million in restructuring costs, adjusted net income came in at $119 million, or $0.16 a share. Analysts expected earnings of $0.12 per share.

Its sales came in at $717 million, missed analysts’ estimates of $740 million. Looking ahead, Twitter still expects its revenue growth will continue to lag audience growth in 2017 and could now be further impacted by escalating competition for digital ad spending.

Equities Trading UP

Sky Solar Holdings Ltd (ADR) SKYS shares shot up 48 percent to $2.64 after reporting better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Shares of OraSure Technologies, Inc. OSUR got a boost, shooting up 24 percent to $11.00 after the company posted strong Q4 results. Raymond James upgraded OraSure Technologies from Market Perform to Outperform.

Aqua Metals Inc AQMS shares were also up, gaining 43 percent to $16.28. Johnson Controls International plc JCI and Aqua Metals announced a break-through battery recycling technology partnership.

Equities Trading DOWN

Moleculin Biotech Inc MBRX shares dropped 18 percent to $1.23. Moleculin reported the pricing of its $5 million underwritten public offering.

Shares of Dun & Bradstreet Corp DNB were down around 17 percent to $102.00 after the company posted downbeat Q4 earnings.

Vista Outdoor Inc VSTO was down, falling around 21 percent to $20.43 after the company posted downbeat Q3 revenue and issued a weak FY17 forecast.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.49 percent to $53.12 while gold traded down 0.21 percent to $1,236.90.

Silver traded up 0.20 percent Thursday to $17.74, while copper fell 0.43 percent to $2.66.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.78 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.17 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.94 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.86 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.25 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.57 percent.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims dropped 12,000 to 234,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 250,000 in the week.

U.S. wholesale inventories rose 1 percent for December, versus economists’ expectations for a 1 percent growth

Supplies of natural gas declined 152 billion cubic feet for the week ended February 3, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a drop of 153 billion cubic feet.

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