Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Up Over 200 Points; Zogenix Shares Gain On Positive Phase 3 Data In Dravet Syndrome Study

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.88 percent to 24,918.80 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.19 percent to 7,808.43. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.81 percent to 2,796.34.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, the information technology shares climbed 1.61 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included CA, Inc. CA up 18 percent, and Finjan Holdings, Inc. FNJN up 9 percent.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 0.02 percent.

Top Headline

Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter on Thursday.

Delta posted Q2 profit of $1.77 per share on revenue of $11.78 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $1.72 per share on revenue of $11.61 billion. The company raised its quarterly dividend from $0.305 per share to $0.35 per share.

Delta expects Q3 earnings of $1.65 to $1.85 per share and FY18 earnings of $5.35 to $5.70 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Zogenix, Inc. ZGNX shares shot up 19 percent to $55.045 after the company disclosed top-line results from second Pivotal Phase 3 trial of ZX008 in dravet syndrome. The company reported that the trial met primary endpoint.

Shares of China TechFaith Wireless Communication Technology Limited CNTF got a boost, shooting up 68 percent to $3.07 after the company agreed to sell its wholly-owned subsidiary.

IZEA, Inc. IZEA shares were also up, gaining 84 percent to $1.72 after the company reported a deal to buy TapInfluence for $7.08 million in cash and stock.

Equities Trading DOWN

SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc. SLS shares dropped 27 percent to $1.70 after the company reported pricing of its upsized $24.2 million public offering.

Shares of Broadcom Inc. AVGO were down 15 percent to $208.0052 after the company announced plans to buy CA at $44.50 per share in cash.

Cato Corporation CATO was down, falling around 15 percent to $21.22. Cato’s same-store sales came in flat for the five weeks ended July 7, 2018 versus the five weeks ended July 8, 2017.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.91 percent to $69.74 while gold traded up 0.22 percent to $1,247.10.

Silver traded up 1.09 percent Thursday to $15.99, while copper rose 1.31 to $2.7795.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.78 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.35 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.38 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.61 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.97 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.78 percent.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.1 percent for June, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent increase.

U.S. initial jobless claims dropped 18,000 to 214,000 in the latest week. However, economists projected a 226,000 reading.

Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 51 billion cubic feet for the week ended July 6, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 55 billion cubic feet.

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

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak at 8:00 p.m. ET.