Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up 2%; Cree Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.72 percent to 18,503.98 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.54 percent to 5,032.88. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.51 percent to 2,163.29.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, financial shares surged by 0.9 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Transcontinental Realty Investors Inc TCI and American Realty Investors, Inc. ARL.

In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell by 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Connecticut Water Service Inc CTWS, down 3 percent, and NRG Energy Inc NRG, down 2.5 percent.

Top Headline

JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

JPMorgan reported net income of $6.2 billion, down one percent from $6.29 billion in the year-ago quarter. On a per share basis, the company earned $1.55 compared to $1.54 in the corresponding period last year. Street analysts predicted the company to earn $1.43 a share. The highest estimation among the analysts was $1.54 a share.

The company disclosed net revenue of $24.4 billion on a managed basis, up 2.5 percent from $23.8 billion in the previous year quarter. On a reported basis, net revenue grew 2.7 percent to $25.2 billion from $24.5 billion in the year earlier period.

Equities Trading UP

Harsco Corporation HSC shares shot up 11 percent to $8.90 after the company raised its Q2 adjusted operating income outlook.

Shares of Cree, Inc. CREE got a boost, shooting up 12 percent to $28.07. Cree and German-based Infineon Technologies revealed Thursday that they struck a definitive agreement enabling the German firm to acquire the Wolfspeed Power and RF division of Cree for $850 million cash.

Ocean Power Technologies Inc OPTT shares were also up, gaining 61 percent to $4.71. Ocean Power Technologies reported the deployment of its first commercially designed PB3 PowerBuoy.

Equities Trading DOWN

Rennova Health Inc RNVA shares dropped 45 percent to $0.295. Rennova Health reported the pricing of its $8,600,000 public offering.

Shares of Laredo Petroleum Inc LPI were down 5 percent to $10.64. Laredo Petroleum reported a 12 million share offering and expanded its footprint in the Midland Basin with a $125 million land purchase.

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. BRCD was down, falling around 8 percent to $9.00. Baird downgraded Brocade from Neutral to Underperform and lowered the price target from $10.00 to $8.00.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.06 percent to $45.67 while gold traded down 0.81 percent to $1,332.70.

Silver traded down 0.46 percent Thursday to $20.32, while copper rose 0.02 percent to $2.24.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.80 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.93 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 1.63 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 1.39 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 1.16 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.24 percent.

Economics

U.S. jobless claims came in unchanged at 254,000 for the latest week. Economists were expecting initial jobless claims to total 265,000 for the week.

U.S. producer prices rose 0.5 percent in June, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent growth.

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard is set to speak in St. Louis at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Supplies of natural gas increased 64 billion cubic feet for the week ended July 8, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were projecting a gain of 60 billion cubic feet.

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

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard will hold a press briefing, in St. Louis at 6:40 p.m. ET.

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in St. Louis at 7:00 p.m. ET.