Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; Macy's Posts Downbeat Q3 Sales

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.12% to 27786.57 while the NASDAQ fell 0.03% to 8524.41. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.12% to 3,104.58.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares climbed 0.8% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included McDermott International, Inc. MDR, up 28%, and Flex LNG Ltd. FLNG, up 9%.

In trading on Thursday, real estate shares fell 1%.

Top Headline

Macy's Inc M reported downbeat sales for its third quarter and lowered FY19 guidance.

Macy's reported third-quarter earnings of 7 cents per share on Thursday. This is a 74.07% decrease over earnings of 27 cents per share from the same period last year. The company reported quarterly sales of $5.173 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $5.32 billion.

Macy's cut fiscal year 2019 EPS guidance from $2.85-$3.05 to $2.57-$2.77 versus the $2.79 estimate. The company lowered FY19 same-store sales guidance from flat to up 1% to down 1-1.5%

Equities Trading UP

Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. HEPA shares shot up 82% to $4.41 after the thinly-traded, nano-cap biotech announced results from an animal study of its lead product candidate CRV431. New Jersey-based Hepion said CRV431 prevented the development of liver cirrhosis in a highly aggressive, preclinical model of liver disease.

Shares of Stage Stores, Inc. SSI got a boost, shooting up 24% to $2.76 after the company reported Q3 results.

TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation AMTD shares were also up, gaining 16% to $47.96. Charles Schwab SCHW is looking to acquire TD Ameritrade for $26 billion, Fox Business first reported. The deal could be announced as soon as today.

Equities Trading DOWN

Baozun Inc. BZUN shares tumbled 19% to $35.47 after the company reported worse-than-expected third-quarter sales results.

Shares of Cubic Corporation CUB were down 18% to $60.13 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS results. The company also issued FY20 EPS guidance below analyst estimates.

Aurora Mobile Limited JG was down, falling 20% to $3.50 after the company reported Q3 results.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $56.91, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,469.20.

Silver traded down 0.4% Thursday to $17.04, while copper fell 0.9% to $2.627.

Euro zone


European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.4%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.2%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.1%. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.1%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.26% while UK shares fell 0.7%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims were unchanged at 227,000 for the latest week. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 220,000.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index increased to 10.4 for November, versus a reading of 5.6 in October.

U.S. existing home sales increased 1.9% to an annual rate of 5.46 million units in October, versus analysts’ expectations of 1.4% rise.

U.S. leading economic indicators declined 0.1% for October.

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.