Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Lennar Profit Tops Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.60 percent to 16,765.61 while the NASDAQ tumbled 0.59 percent to 4,353.79. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.59 percent to 1,947.89.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Telecommunications services shares declined by just 0.05 percent in today’s trading. Top gainers in the sector included China Unicom (Hong Kong) CHU, up 2.9 percent, and CalAmp CAMP, up 1.6 percent.

In trading on Thursday, financial shares tumbled around 0.81 percent. Top losers in the sector included Alto Palermo SA APSA, Barclays PLC BCS, and NewBridge Bancorp NBBC.

Top Headline

Lennar LEN reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter earnings.

Lennar’s quarterly profit gained to $137.7 million, from a year-ago profit of $137.4 million. On a per-share basis, its earnings came in flat at $0.61 per share.

Its revenue climbed 27% to $1.82 billion. However, analysts were projecting a profit of $0.51 per share on revenue of $1.68 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Iron Mountain IRM shares shot up 19.08 percent to $35.45 after the company announced the conversion to a REIT. The company expected FY14 earnings of $1.37 to $1.52 per share.

Shares of Nabors Industries NBR got a boost, shooting up 5.93 percent to $28.92 after the company confirmed a deal to combine its completion and production services businesses with C&J Energy CJES.

Alcoa AA shares were also up, gaining 2.47 percent to $14.91 after the company agreed to buy Firth Rixson for $2.85 billion.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond BBBY were down 9.93 percent to $55.04 after the company reported weaker-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results and issued a downbeat outlook for the second quarter.

Herman Miller MLHR shares tumbled 6.91 percent to $29.49 after the company reported downbeat Q4 revenue and issued a weak Q1 forecast.

Philip Morris International PM was down, falling 3.07 percent to $86.16 after the company lowered its 2014 earnings guidance.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.45 percent to $106.02, while gold traded down 0.33 percent to $1,318.40.

Silver traded down 0.36 percent Thursday to $21.10, while copper rose 0.05 percent to $3.17.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.17 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.56 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.07 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.10 percent and the French CAC 40 gained 0.06 percent while UK shares slipped 0.02 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims dropped by 2,000 to 312,000 in the week ended June 21. However, economists were projecting claims to reach 310,000 in the week.

Consumer spending rose 0.2% in May, while personal income increased 0.4%. However, economists were expecting a 0.4% rise in both consumer spending and income.

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 6-month bills. The Treasury will also auction 7-year notes.

Data on money supply will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.