Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Ciena Tops Q4 Expectations

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.75 percent to 24,710.60 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.61 percent to 7,141.35. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.64 percent to 2,668.07.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the real estate shares climbed 1.1 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Macerich Company MAC up 7 percent, and Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corporation MNR up 3 percent.

In trading on Thursday, financial shares fell 0.5 percent.

Top Headline

Ciena Corporation CIEN reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter and announced a new $500 million share repurchase program.

Ciena reported quarterly earnings of $0.53 per share on revenue of $899.4 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.48 per share on revenue of $861.48 million.

Equities Trading UP

Adial Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ADIL shares got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $2.60 after the company announced it would expand its alcohol abuse treatment into the opioid abuse market.

Shares of Yulong Eco-Materials Limited YECO shot up 32 percent to $5.88 after the company acquired Michelangelo's Pieta for $75M worth of Yulong shares.

Qudian Inc. QD shares were also up, gaining 21 percent to $6.38 after the company issued 2019 guidance and reported a $300 million new share repurchase program.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation AGTC shares dropped 44 percent to $3.67 after reporting the company’s gene delivery platform did not show signs of clinical activity and Biogen terminated their collaboration agreement.

Shares of Limelight Networks, Inc. LLNW were down 25 percent to $2.40 after the company issued weak FY18 guidance.

Tailored Brands, Inc. TLRD was down, falling around 29 percent to $14.36. Tailored Brands reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed estimates. The company cut FY18 adjusted EPS guidance. The company also announced it received notification from a significant U.S. customer of a decision not to renew an existing agreement in 2019.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.96 percent to $50.66 while gold traded down 0.26 percent to $1,246.70.

Silver traded down 0.44 percent Thursday to $14.785, while copper rose 0.51 percent to $2.784.

 

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.09 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.98 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 0.83 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.13 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.02 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.07 percent.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims fell 27,000 to 206,000 for the latest week.

U.S. import prices dropped 1.6 percent for November, while export prices fell 0.9 percent.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

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