Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.30 percent to 20,721.88 while the NASDAQ rose 0.23 percent to 5,910.96.
The S&P also rose, gaining 0.28 percent to 2,367.71.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Thursday afternoon, the financial sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from
American Realty Investors, Inc. (NYSE: ARL) and Pzena
Investment Management, Inc. (NYSE: PZN).
In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 0.77 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included NRG Energy Inc
(NYSE: NRG), down 3 percent, and American Midstream Partners
LP (NYSE: AMID), down 3 percent.
Top Headline
Lululemon Athletica inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) reported
downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter and issued a weak forecast for the current quarter.
Lululemon posted Q4 adjusted earnings of $1 per share, missing estimate by $0.01 per share. The company expects Q1 earnings of
$0.25 to $0.27 per share, with sales of $510 to $515 million.
Equities Trading UP
Interpace Diagnostics Group Inc (NASDAQ: IDXG)
shares shot up 11 percent to $2.82. Interpace Diagnostics reported Q4 earnings from continuing operations of $3.25 per share on
revenue of $3.122 million.
Shares of Extreme Networks, Inc (NASDAQ: EXTR) got
a boost, shooting up 15 percent to $7.43 after the company announced plans to purchase data center switching, routing and analytics
assets that are currently part of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRCD) from Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ: AVGO), following the sale of Brocade to Broadcom next quarter.
Acasti Pharma Inc (NASDAQ: ACST) shares were also
up, gaining 13 percent to $1.43 after the company announced plans to proceed with Phase 3 CaPRe program following recent
end-of-Phase 2 meeting with the FDA.
Equities Trading DOWN
Cartesian Inc (NASDAQ: CRTN) shares dropped 25
percent to $0.831. Cartesian reported Q4 adjusted loss of $0.03 per share on revenue of $16.9 million.
Shares of Lululemon Athletica inc. (NASDAQ: LULU)
were down around 24 percent to $50.60 after the company reported downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter and issued a weak
forecast for the current quarter.
Exfo Inc (NYSE: EXFO) was down, falling around 14
percent to $5.14 after the company posted weak quarterly earnings. The company also reported that Philippe Morin will succeed
Germain Lamonde as new CEO.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 1.58 percent to $50.29 while gold traded down 0.79 percent to $1,246.90.
Silver traded down 0.50 percent Thursday to $18.16, while copper rose 0.07 percent to $2.68.
Eurozone
European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.51 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.37
percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.45 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.44 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose
0.41 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.06 percent.
Economics
The U.S. economy grew at a pace of 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter. However, economists projected a 1.9 percent growth.
U.S. jobless claims declined 3,000 to 258,000 for the latest week. Economists were expecting claims total 248,000 in the
week.
Supplies of natural gas dropped 43 billion cubic feet for the week ended March 24, the U.S. Energy Information Administration
reported.
New York Federal Reserve Bank of President William Dudley will speak in Sarasota, Florida at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.
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