Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.11 percent to 19,912.64 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.20 percent to 5,654.19.
The S&P also fell, dropping 0.14 percent to 2,282.83.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares rose by 0.89 percent in trading on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector
included Mead Johnson Nutrition CO (NYSE: MJN), and
Ingles Markets, Incorporated (NASDAQ: IMKTA).
In trading on Thursday, telecommunications services shares slipped by 0.50 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included
Sprint Corp (NYSE: S), down 3 percent, and Black Box
Corporation (NASDAQ: BBOX), down 2.5 percent.
Top Headline
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) reported
stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Wednesday.
Facebook reported Q4 EPS of $1.41, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.31. Its revenue came in at $8.629 billion, beating
expectations of $8.51 billion. Facebook’s mobile daily active users climbed 23 percent to 1.15 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Mead Johnson Nutrition CO (NYSE: MJN) shares shot up
22 percent to $85.07. Reckitt Benckiser Group confirmed to Reuters it's in talks to acquire Mead Johnson Nutrition for $90 per
share in cash or approximately $16.7 billion.
Shares of Celadon Group, Inc. (NYSE: CGI) got a
boost, shooting up 18 percent to $8.75 after the company posted better-than-expected Q2 results.
Benitec Biopharma Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ: BNTC) shares
were also up, gaining 128 percent to $3.65 as the company disclosed that they have made important progress on the development of
therapeutics for the treatment of ocular diseases.
Equities Trading DOWN
Resolute Forest Products Inc (NYSE: RFP) shares
dropped 13 percent to $4.72. Resolute reported a Q4 net loss of $45 million, or $0.50 per share, versus a year-ago net loss of $214
million, or $2.39 per share.
Shares of Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) were
down around 15 percent to $43.96 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q4 results.
CSG Systems International, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGS) was
down, falling around 18 percent to $39.47. CSG Systems reported a Q4 profit of $12.6 million on revenue of $195.2 million.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.61 percent to $53.55 while gold traded up 1.12 percent to $1,221.80.
Silver traded up 0.92 percent Thursday to $17.61, while copper fell 1.03 percent to $2.68.
Eurozone
European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.29 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.74
percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.87 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.27 percent, and the French CAC 40
gained 0.11 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.53 percent.
Economics
U.S. initial jobless claims dropped 14,000 to 246,000 in the latest week. Economists were expecting initial claims to reach
250,000 in the week.
Non-farm productivity rose at an annual pace of 1.3 percent for the fourth quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 1
percent growth.
Supplies of natural gas declined 87 billion cubic feet for the week ended January 27, the U.S. Energy Information Administration
reported. Analysts projected a drop of 88 billion cubic feet.
Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.
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