Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; J M Smucker Misses Q4 Expectations

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.43 percent to 25,254.09 while the NASDAQ declined 0.32 percent to 7,664.89. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.11 percent to 2,775.30.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the energy shares surged 1.4 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Chesapeake Energy Corporation CHK up 6 percent, and Ultra Petroleum Corp. UPL up 9 percent.

In trading on Thursday, information technology shares fell 0.32 percent.

Top Headline

J M Smucker Co SJM reported weaker-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Smucker posted adjusted earnings of $1.93 per share on revenue of $1.781 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $2.20 per share on revenue of $1.81 billion.

JM Smucker expects FY2019 earnings of $8.40 to $8.65 per share, on sales of $8.30 billion. Analysts project earnings of $8.22 per share on sales of $7.38 billion.

Equities Trading UP

AV Homes, Inc. AVHI shares shot up 29 percent to $21.30 after Taylor Morrison Home Corporation TMHC agreed to acquire AV Homes at $21.50 per share in cash and stock.

Shares of Conn's, Inc. CONN got a boost, shooting up 23 percent to $31.45 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter on Thursday.

Zscaler, Inc. ZS shares were also up, gaining 25 percent to $38.44 after reporting a third-quarter earnings and sales beat. The company issued strong fourth-quarter and fiscal 2018 earnings and sales guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc. PTI shares dropped 36 percent to $3.16 after data from an ongoing Phase 1 Study of PTI-801 in cystic fibrosis patients showed statistically significant improvement in blood glucose levels and the reversal of hyperglycemia in the diabetic cystic fibrosis subpopulation.

Shares of REV Group, Inc. REVG were down 22 percent to $13.95 after the company posted downbeat Q2 earnings and lowered its FY18 net income outlook.

MiMedx Group, Inc. MDXG was down, falling around 15 percent to $7.00. MiMedx reported that it will restate financial statements for FY12-FY16 and interim periods of FY17 related to sales recognition. The company also disclosed that its CFO Michael Senken stepped down in June 6, 2018 and Edward Borkowski has been named as interim CFO.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.87 percent to $65.29 while gold traded up 0.05 percent to $1,302.10.

Silver traded up 1.08 percent Thursday to $16.875, while copper rose 1.47 to $3.31.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.22 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.39 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.31 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.09 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.14 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.25 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims dropped 1,000 to 222,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a 225,000 reading.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The consumer credit report for April is schedule for release at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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