Mid-Day Market Update: Avista Gains Following Announcement Of Takeover By Hydro One; A. Schulman Shares Drop

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.20 percent to 21,597.14 while the NASDAQ gained 0.04 percent to 6,387.41. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.02 percent to 2,473.24.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares climbed by 0.83 percent in the US market on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, basic materials shares fell 0.80 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included A Schulman Inc SHLM, down 16 percent, and LSB Industries, Inc. LXU, down 6 percent.

Top Headline

Philip Morris International Inc. PM reported weaker-than-expected profit for its second quarter.

Philip Morris posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.14 per share, on revenue, excluding excise taxes, of $6.9 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.23 per share on net sales of $7.11 billion.

Philip Morris lowered its 2017 earnings forecast to $4.78 to $4.93 per share, versus earlier outlook of $4.84 to $4.99 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Avista Corp AVA shares shot up 20 percent to $51.93 after Hydro One announced a deal to buy Avista at $53 per share in cash.

Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc SRPT got a boost, shooting up 23 percent to $41.91 after the company reported stronger-than-expected quarterly revenue.

Sears Holdings Corp SHLD shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $9.99. Sears reported the launch of Kenmore products on Amazon.com.

Equities Trading DOWN

MarineMax Inc HZO shares dropped 23 percent to $15.25 after the company reported downbeat Q3 results and lowered its FY17 earnings outlook.

Shares of A Schulman Inc SHLM were down 16 percent to $26.20 after the company cut its FY17 adjusted earnings forecast.

Insteel Industries Inc IIIN was down, falling around 17 percent to $27.05 on Q3 results. Insteel reported Q3 earnings of $0.36 per share on sales of $96.9 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.66 percent to $46.81 while gold traded up 0.33 percent to $1,252.90.

Silver traded up 0.36 percent Thursday to $16.355, while copper fell 0.33 percent to $2.7015.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.43 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.29 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.11 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.16 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.44 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.77 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims dropped 15,000 to 233,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting jobless claims to reach 245,000 last week.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve manufacturing index dropped to 19.5 in July, compared to 27.6 in June. However, aconomists projected a reading of 24.
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The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.6 percent for June.

Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 28 billion cubic feet for the week ended July 14, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 32 billion cubic feet.

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