Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.16 percent to 20,924.07 while the NASDAQ declined 0.07 percent to
6,068.34. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.07 percent to 2,386.37.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector was the top gainer in the US market on Thursday. Top gainers in the sector
included Craft Brew Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: BREW),
MGP Ingredients Inc (NASDAQ: MGPI), and Align
Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN).
In trading on Thursday, energy shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 1.82 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in
the sector included Unit Corporation (NYSE: UNT), down
20 percent, and Resolute Energy Corp (NYSE: REN), down
11 percent.
Top Headline
Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB) posted upbeat results
for its second quarter on Thursday.
Viacom said it earned $0.79 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $3.256 billion; Analysts were expecting the company to
earn $0.76 per share on revenue of $3.18 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Ltd (NASDAQ: AOSL)
shares shot up 24 percent to $20.06 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results.
Shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ARWR) got a boost, shooting up 24 percent to $1.93 after the company reported
strong Q2 results.
FreightCar America, Inc. (NASDAQ: RAIL) shares
were also up, gaining 21 percent to $15.51 following Q1 results. FreightCar America reported Q1 earnings of $0.05 per share on
revenue of $139.5 million.
Equities Trading DOWN
Tuesday Morning Corporation (NASDAQ: TUES) shares
dropped 33 percent to $2.12 as the company posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss.
Shares of Biopharmx Corp (NYSE: BPMX) were down
around 39 percent to $0.515. BioPharmX disclosed that it achieved primary endpoint in Phase 2b trial of BPX-01, but missed
secondary endpoint.
Spirit Realty Capital, Inc (New) (NYSE: SRC) was
down, falling around 21 percent to $7.04 after the company posted weak quarterly earnings. JP Morgan downgraded Spirit Realty
Capital from Overweight to Neutral.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 5 percent to $45.43 while gold traded down 1.61 percent to $1,228.40.
Silver traded down 1.37 percent Thursday to $16.32, while copper fell 1.26 percent to $2.5115.
Eurozone
European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 surged 0.67 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.62 percent,
while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.98 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.72 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 1.12
percent while U.K. shares rose 0.20 percent.
Economics
U.S. trade deficit declined 0.1 percent to $43.7 billion in March. However, economists were expecting a $44.5 billion deficit.
Exports dropped 0.9 percent to $191 billion in the month, while imports slipped 0.7 percent to $234.7 billion.
Initial jobless claims dropped 19,000 to 238,000 in the last week of April, the government said Thursday. Economists were
expecting new claims to total 247,000 for the week.
U.S. nonfarm productivity declined 0.60 percent for the first quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.20 percent
growth.
U.S. factory orders rose 0.20 percent for March, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.40 percent increase.
Supplies of natural gas climbed 67 billion cubic feet in the week ended April 28, the U.S. Energy Information Administration
reported. Analysts expected a gain of 61 billion cubic feet for the week.
Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.
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