Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Ford Profit Misses Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.36 percent to 18,405.43 while the NASDAQ declined 0.07 percent to 5,136.06. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.22 percent to 2,161.72.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares climbed by 0.40 percent.

In trading on Thursday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares fell by 0.54 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Rent-A-Center Inc RCII, down 21 percent, and Gentherm Inc THRM, down 12 percent.

Top Headline

Ford Motor Company F reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the second quarter. However, its revenue fell shy of the analysts’ expectations.

Ford reported net income of $2.0 billion, down $190 million from the year-ago while its total adjusted pre-tax profit was $3.0 billion, down $293 million. The company's EPS were $0.49, down $0.05 from the previous year period. Its adjusted earnings per share were also down by $0.02 to $0.52, which fell short of the Street analysts' estimation of $0.60.

The second biggest American automaker reported revenue of $39.5 billion, higher than the Street estimation of $36.31 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Healthways, Inc. HWAY shares shot up 31 percent to $15.97 after the company reported a deal to sell the healthy living business to Sharecare Inc. Healthways reported the closing of strategic assessment.

Shares of Groupon Inc GRPN got a boost, shooting up 27 percent to $4.78 as the company after the company reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss and lifted its revenue forecast for 2016.

PCM Inc PCMI shares were also up, gaining 27 percent to $15.00. PCM reported Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.66 per share on revenue of $581 million. The company also raised its FY16 earnings outlook.

Equities Trading DOWN

Infinera Corp. INFN shares dropped 33 percent to $8.36. Infinera posted better-than-expected Q2 results, but issued a weak demand outlook. The company’s CEO said '...demand is softening in certain areas of our business and we face a difficult near-term revenue outlook.'

Shares of Rent-A-Center Inc RCII were down 21 percent to $10.53 after the company posted downbeat quarterly earnings and issued a weak FY16 earnings forecast.

Blucora Inc BCOR was down, falling around 24 percent to $9.90. Blucora reported Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.55 per share on revenue of $120.1 million. The company projects FY16 earnings of $0.84 to $0.96 per share, on sales of $440.5 million to $451.5 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.26 percent to $41.81 while gold traded up 1.08 percent to $1,348.90.

Silver traded up 2.03 percent Thursday to $20.40, while copper rose 1.44 percent to $2.22.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.59 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index declined 1.67 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 1.51 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.14 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.21 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.19 percent.

Economics

U.S. advanced trade gap widened to $63.3 billion in June. Economists projected a trade gap of $61.0 billion. Imports increased $3.3 billion to $183.5 billion in the month, while exports climbed $1.1 billion to $120.2 billion.

Initial jobless claims increased 14,000 to 266,000 last week. However, economists were expecting jobless claims to total 260,000 in the week.

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

The Kansas City Fed composite manufacturing index for July will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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