Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; McKesson Earnings Miss Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.48 percent to 24,767.94 while the NASDAQ declined 0.36 percent to 7,399.23. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.44 percent to 2,721.28.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the industrials shares surged 0.17 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. BW, up 14 percent, and Hub Group, Inc. HUBG up 4 percent.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 1.32 percent.

Top Headline

McKesson Corporation MCK reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter.

The company posted adjusted earnings of $3.49 per share on revenue of $51.63 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $3.56 per share on revenue of $51.25 billion.

McKesson projects full-year earnings of $13 to $13.80 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Stellar Biotechnologies, Inc. SBOT shares shot up 51 percent to $3.2985 after the company disclosed that it achieved robust viral clearance for its manufacturing process.

Shares of Comstock Holding Companies, Inc. CHCI got a boost, shooting up 111 percent to $4.27. Comstock reported conversion of the majority of its unsecured, short-term debt into non-convertible preferred equity.

Bilibili Inc.. EVOP shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $14.35 after announcing Q1 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Recro Pharma, Inc. REPH shares dropped 49 percent to $6.2834 after the company received a Complete Response Letter from the FDA. The FDA declined to approve the company’s New Drug Application for IV meloxicam.

Shares of Westmoreland Resource Partners, LP WMLP were down 25 percent to $2.97 after surging 194.03 percent on Wednesday.

Westell Technologies, Inc. WSTL was down, falling around 19 percent to $2.81 after reporting a fourth-quarter earnings miss.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.46 percent to $70.79 while gold traded up 0.73 percent to $1,304.20.

Silver traded up 1.22 percent Thursday to $16.605, while copper rose 0.47 to $3.085.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.04 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.03 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.42 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.33 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.04 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.49 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims increased 11,000 to 234,000 in the latest week. Economists expected claims to reach 219,000 last week.

Existing home sales declined 2.5 percent to an annual rate of 5.46 million for April. However, economists were expecting a 5.56 million rate.

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

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will speak at 10:35 a.m. ET.

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

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

Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker is set to speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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