Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Barnes & Noble Education Climbs Following Q4 Results; InVivo Therapeutics Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.56 percent to 24,520.95 while the NASDAQ declined 0.59 percent to 7,735.58. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.39 percent to 2,756.43.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, the utilities shares surged 0.52 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte Sociedad Anónima EDN up 6 percent, and Pampa Energía S.A. PAM up 5 percent.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 1.53 percent.

Top Headline

Kroger Co KR reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Thursday.

The company said it earned 73 cents per share in the quarter on revenue of $37.53 billion versus expectations of 63 cents and $37.33 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Stellar Biotechnologies, Inc. SBOT shares shot up 36 percent to $2.2481 after announcing encouraging results from a research study focused on the molecular composition of the company's KLH products. The company said the "study results demonstrated highly consistent molecular structure from batch to batch, a key attribute for a biologically sourced protein."

Shares of Heron Therapeutics, Inc. HRTX got a boost, shooting up 31 percent to $40.25 after the company disclosed that HTX-011 for postoperative pain management has received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA.

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. BNED shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $7.92 after reporting Q4 results. The company posted consolidated Q4 adjusted earnings of $17.2 million, versus $4.5 million in the year-ago period. Its sales rose 4.3 percent to $357.7 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. NVIV shares dropped 43 percent to $1.91 after reporting pricing of $13.2 million underwritten public offering.

Shares of Gevo, Inc. GEVO were down 30 percent to $8.82 after dropping 35.74 percent on Wednesday. Gevo and Avfuel entered into a renewable jet fuel supply agreement.

Veritone, Inc. VERI was down, falling around 17 percent to $17.96 after reporting a proposed public offering of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.24 percent to $65.55 while gold traded down 0.24 percent to $1,271.40.

Silver traded up 0.22 percent Thursday to $16.345, while copper fell 0.29 to $3.053.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.90 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.89 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 2.02 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 1.44 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 1.05 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.93 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims fell 3,000 to 218,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 2,18,000.

The Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing index declined to 19.9 in June, compared to 34.4 in May. However, economists projected a reading of 28.

The index of leading economic indicators increased 0.2 percent for May.

Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 91 billion cubic feet for the week ended June 15, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts expected a gain of 85 billion cubic feet.

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