Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; Kellogg Earnings Beat Views

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.03% to 34,218.62 while the NASDAQ fell 0.70% to 13,487.34. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.31% to 4,154.86.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 32,558,060 cases with around 579,280 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 21,077,410 cases and 230,160 deaths, while Brazil reported over 14,930,180 COVID-19 cases with 414,390 deaths. In total, there were at least 155,261,330 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 3,243,960 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer staples shares rose 0.7% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ambev S.A. ABEV, up 8%, and Kellogg Company K, up 6%.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 1.5%.

Top Headline

Kellogg Company K reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter and raised its FY21 guidance.

Kellogg reported quarterly earnings of $1.11 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.96 per share. The company’s quarterly sales came in at $3.58 billion, versus expectations of $3.38 billion.

Kellogg raised its FY21 organic net sales guidance from down 1% to flat on year-over-year basis. The company also boosted adjusted EPS growth guidance from 1% year over year to up 1-2% year over year.

 

Equities Trading UP

SemiLEDs Corporation LEDS shares shot up 54% to $8.47 on above-average volume.

Shares of Lexaria Bioscience Corp. LEXX got a boost, shooting 35% to $6.81 after the company disclosed successful results from first 2021 study, HYPER-A21-1.

Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. SBH shares were also up, gaining 22% to $24.68 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 results.

Check out these big movers of the day

Equities Trading DOWN

James River Group Holdings, Ltd. JRVR shares tumbled 31% to $31.97 after the company swung to a loss in the first quarter. The company also priced its 5.65 million share common stock offering at $31 per share.

Shares of Yellow Corporation YELL were down 31% to $6.62 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS results.

PureCycle Technologies, Inc. PCT was down, falling 34% to $16.33.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.5% to $65.28, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,790.70.

Silver traded up 1% Thursday to $26.78 while copper rose 0.8% to $4.5615.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.2% and the German DAX 30 gained 0.1%. Meanwhile, the London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1%, French CAC 40 rose 0.1% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.3%.

The IHS Markit Eurozone’s construction PMI came in unchanged at 50.1 in April, while French construction PMI rose to 49.8 in April from 49.7 in the earlier month. The IHS Markit/CIPS UK composite PMI increased to 60.7 in April versus a preliminary reading of 60.

German construction PMI dropped to 46.2 in April versus 47.5 in the prior month, while factory orders rose 3.0% in March.

Economics

US initial jobless claims fell by 92,000 to 498,000 in the week ending May 1st.

Nonfarm labor productivity increased by an annualized 5.4% in the first quarter, while unit labor costs dropped an annualized 0.3%.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled 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.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Master will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 6:05 p.m. ET.

Check out the full economic calendar here