Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASDAQ Down Over 1%; AV Homes Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.18 percent to 25,190.86 while the NASDAQ declined 1.15 percent to 7,601.21. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.40 percent to 2,761.39.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, the energy shares surged 1.87 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Chesapeake Energy Corporation CHK up 9 percent, and Ultra Petroleum Corp. UPL up 10 percent.

In trading on Thursday, information technology shares fell 1.36 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 $21.35 after Taylor Morrison Home Corporation TMHC agreed to acquire AV Homes at $21.50 per share in cash and stock.

Shares of Ophthotech Corporation OPHT got a boost, shooting up 48 percent to $4.1576 after the company disclosed that it has entered into gene therapy agreements with University of Florida and University of Pennsylvania.

Top Ships Inc. TOPS shares were also up, gaining 49 percent to $1.15 after the company reported a time charter with a major oil company for its two Suezmax vessels.

Equities Trading DOWN

Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc. PTI shares dropped 35 percent to $3.21 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 21 percent to $14.12 after the company posted downbeat Q2 earnings and lowered its FY18 net income outlook.

MiMedx Group, Inc. MDXG was down, falling around 23 percent to $6.29. 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 1.79 percent to $65.89 while gold traded up 0.14 percent to $1,303.20.

Silver traded up 0.90 percent Thursday to $16.845, while copper rose 0.43 to $3.276.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.24 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.38 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.18 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.15 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.17 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.10 percent.

Economics

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

Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 92 billion cubic feet for the week ended June 1, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a rise of 90 billion cubic feet.

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.