Crude Oil Down 2%; ConAgra Brands Earnings Top Views

U.S. stocks traded slightly lower toward the end of trading, with the Dow Jones index falling around 40 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded down 0.12% to 33,088.44 while the NASDAQ fell 0.23% to 13,206.10. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.23% to 4,253.86.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

 

Real estate shares rose by 0.5% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares dipped by around 1.8%.

 

Top Headline

 

ConAgra Brands Inc CAG reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Thursday.

The company posted quarterly sales of $2.90 billion, flat Y/Y, versus the consensus of $2.95 billion. Adjusted EPS increased 15.8% to $0.66, beating the consensus of $0.60.

ConAgra reaffirmed FY24 organic net sales growth of 1% and adjusted EPS of $2.70-$2.75 (consensus $2.72).

 

Equities Trading UP

 

Orchard Therapeutics plc ORTX shares shot up 98% to $16.00 after the company agreed to be acquired by Japan's Kyowa Kirin for $16.00 per ADS in cash plus an additional contingent value right of $1.00 per ADS.

Shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. LW got a boost, shooting 10% to $99.04 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.

SP Plus Corporation SP shares were also up, gaining 45% to $51.28 after Metropolis Technologies announced it will acquire the company for $1.5 billion.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

 

Cambium Networks Corporation CMBM shares dropped 35% to $5.18 after the company announced it expects preliminary third-quarter revenues of between $40-$45 million compared to the previous outlook of $62-$70 million.

Shares of Rivian Automotive, Inc. RIVN were down 19% to $19.23 after the company announced a $1.5 billion proposed green convertible senior notes offering. The company also reported preliminary Q3 revenue estimates.

MaxCyte, Inc. MXCT was down, falling 23% to $2.5050. MaxCyte said it sees third-quarter total revenue of $7.8 to 8.0 million, representing a decrease of 25% -27% versus the year-ago quarter. The company now expects total revenue of approximately $34 million to $36 million for the year.

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Commodities

 

In commodity news, oil traded down 2% to $82.58 while gold traded down 0.1% at $1,832.90.

Silver traded down 0.4% to $21.07 on Thursday while copper fell 0.7% to $3.5630.

 

Euro zone

 

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.28% London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.53% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.60% The German DAX fell 0.20% French CAC 40 rose 0.02%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.20%.

The HCOB Eurozone construction PMI rose to 43.6 in September from 43.4 in August. The consumer confidence indicator in Spain fell to 77.2 in September versus the near-two-year high level of 94.4 in the prior month. The trade surplus in Germany widened to EUR 16.6 billion in August from EUR 15.9 billion a month ago.

The S&P Global/CIPS UK construction PMI fell to 45 in September from 50.8 a month ago, while German construction PMI declined sharply to 39.3 in September from 41.5 in the previous month. The S&P Global France construction PMI rose to 43.7 in September from 42.4 a month ago.

 

Asia Pacific Markets

 

Asian markets closed higher on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.80% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.10%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.62%.

The S&P Global India services PMI rose to 61.0 in September from 60.1 in August, and topping market estimates of 59.5. The S&P Global Hong Kong SAR PMI declined to 49.6 in September from 49.8 in the prior month.

 

Economics

 

U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 207,000 in the week ending Sept. 30, versus market estimates of 210,000.

The U.S. trade gap shrank to $58.3 billion in August, the lowest since Sept. 2020, and compared to market estimates of a $62.3 billion deficit.

U.S. natural-gas supplies increased 86 billion cubic feet in the recent week, the EIA said.

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COVID-19 Update

 

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 108,792,450 cases with around 1,177,980 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,998,950 cases and 531,930 deaths. In total, there were at least 696,181,820 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,923,360 deaths.