Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.14 percent to 21,439.58 while the NASDAQ gained 0.04 percent to 6,236.53.
The S&P also rose, gaining 0.11 percent to 2,438.18.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Healthcare shares rose by 1.30 percent in the US market on Thursday. Top gainers in the sector included Sangamo Therapeutics
Inc (NASDAQ: SGMO), Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl
Inc (NYSE: VRX), and Community Health Systems (NYSE:
CYH).
In trading on Thursday, industrial shares fell by 0.19 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Accenture
Plc (NYSE: ACN), down 6 percent, and Manitex
International Inc (NASDAQ: MNTX), down 4 percent.
Top Headline
Accenture Plc (NYSE: ACN) reported in-line earnings
for its third quarter, while sales exceeded estimates. The company also lowered its revenue forecast for the year.
Accenture posted quarterly earnings of $1.52 per share on net revenue of $8.87 billion. However, analysts were expecting
earnings of $1.52 per share on revenue of $8.83 billion.
The company now projects full-year net revenue to increase 6 percent to 7 percent, versus its prior outlook for a 6 percent to 8
percent growth. However, Accenture raised its adjusted profit forecast to $5.84 to $5.91 per share, versus an earlier forecast of
$5.70 to $5.87 per share.
Equities Trading UP
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) shares shot up 9
percent to $50.72 after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter. Wedbush upgraded Oracle from
Neutral to Outperform.
Shares of Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) got a
boost, shooting up 8 percent to $9.33 on chatter that the company is targeted for an acquisition. Sycamore Partners, a private
equity giant, is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire the office supply retailer, Reuters reported. The deal could value Staples
at more than $6 billion, a premium to Staples' valuation of $5.60 billion as of Wednesday's market close.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) shares were also up,
gaining 8 percent to $7.03 after the company reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its fourth quarter.
Equities Trading DOWN
Steelcase Inc. (NYSE: SCS) shares dropped 14 percent
to $14.10 after the company reported downbeat earnings for its first quarter and issued a weak outlook for the second quarter.
Shares of Kamada Ltd (NASDAQ: KMDA) were down 23
percent to $5.80 after the company reported the withdrawal of European Marketing Authorization Application for inhaled Alpha-1
Antitrypsin.
Jernigan Capital Inc (NYSE: JCAP) was down, falling
around 7 percent to $22.56. Jernigan Capital reported commencement of 3 million share common stock offering.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 1.72 percent to $43.26 while gold traded up 0.40 percent to $1,250.80.
Silver traded up 0.92 percent Thursday to $16.585, while copper fell 0.04 percent to $2.614.
Eurozone
European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.13 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.46 percent, while
Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.60 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.02 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.13
percent while U.K. shares fell 0.15 percent.
Economics
U.S. initial jobless claims increased 3,000 to 241,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a 240,000
reading.
The FHFA house price index rose 0.7 percent for April, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent gain.
The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.3 percent for May.
Domestic supplies of natural gas gained 61 billion cubic feet for the week ended June 16, the U.S. Energy Information
Administration Thursday reported. However, analysts were estimating a rise of 58 billion cubic feet.
Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.
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