Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; Morgan Stanley Earnings Top Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.1% to 27193.96 while the NASDAQ fell 0.11% to 8,176.28. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.02% to 2,983.69.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares rose 0.4% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Puyi Inc. PUYI, up 9%, and East West Bancorp, Inc. EWBC, up 5%.

In trading on Thursday, communication services shares fell 1.1%.

Top Headline

Morgan Stanley MS reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Morgan Stanley reported second-quarter earnings of $1.23 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.16. The company reported quarterly sales of $10.244 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $10.03 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Safe-T Group Ltd SFET shares shot up 10% to $1.73 after the company received an order from one of Israel's national utility providers for its Software Defined Perimeter solution.

Shares of Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc. NEPT got a boost, shooting up 12% to $5.49 after closing US$41 million private placement. Neptune Wellness said private placement will help finance M&A deals.

Co-Diagnostics, Inc. CODX shares were also up, gaining 71% to $1.52 after the company reported 'favorable' results from its study to detect cancer mutations using its CoPrimer technology.

Equities Trading DOWN

Limelight Networks, Inc. LLNW shares tumbled 14% to $2.3650 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results. The company also cut FY19 sales guidance below analyst estimates..

Shares of Taronis Technologies, Inc. TRNX were down 21% to $0.3310 after the company announced it entered into a Distribution and License Agreement with its Taronis Fuels subsidiary.

Eagle Bancorp, Inc. EGBN was down, falling 12% to $47.24 after reporting downbeat Q2 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.7% to $57.15, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,421.80.

Silver traded up 1.3% Thursday to $16.17, while copper rose 0.1% to $2.7175.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.7%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.3%. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.6%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.1% while UK shares fell 0.5%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims rose 8,000 to 216,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a reading of 216,000.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index rose to a reading of 21.8 in July, compared to 0.3 in June.

The index of leading economic indicators declined 0.3% for June.

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.

New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in New York at 2:15 p.m. ET.

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