Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.20 percent to 21,597.14 while the NASDAQ gained 0.04 percent to 6,387.41.
The S&P also fell, dropping 0.02 percent to 2,473.24.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares climbed by 0.83 percent in the US market on Thursday.
In trading on Thursday, basic materials shares fell 0.80 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included A Schulman
Inc (NASDAQ: SHLM), down 16 percent, and LSB
Industries, Inc. (NYSE: LXU), down 6 percent.
Top Headline
Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) reported
weaker-than-expected profit for its second quarter.
Philip Morris posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.14 per share, on revenue, excluding excise taxes, of $6.9 billion.
However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.23 per share on net sales of $7.11 billion.
Philip Morris lowered its 2017 earnings forecast to $4.78 to $4.93 per share, versus earlier outlook of $4.84 to $4.99 per
share.
Equities Trading UP
Avista Corp (NYSE: AVA) shares shot up 20 percent to
$51.93 after Hydro One announced a deal to buy Avista at $53 per share in cash.
Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: SRPT)
got a boost, shooting up 23 percent to $41.91 after the company reported stronger-than-expected quarterly revenue.
Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ: SHLD) shares were
also up, gaining 15 percent to $9.99. Sears reported the launch of Kenmore products on Amazon.com.
Equities Trading DOWN
MarineMax Inc (NYSE: HZO) shares dropped 23 percent
to $15.25 after the company reported downbeat Q3 results and lowered its FY17 earnings outlook.
Shares of A Schulman Inc (NASDAQ: SHLM) were down
16 percent to $26.20 after the company cut its FY17 adjusted earnings forecast.
Insteel Industries Inc (NASDAQ: IIIN) was down,
falling around 17 percent to $27.05 on Q3 results. Insteel reported Q3 earnings of $0.36 per share on sales of $96.9 million.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.66 percent to $46.81 while gold traded up 0.33 percent to $1,252.90.
Silver traded up 0.36 percent Thursday to $16.355, while copper fell 0.33 percent to $2.7015.
Eurozone
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.43 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.29
percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.11 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.16 percent, and the French CAC 40
declined 0.44 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.77 percent.
Economics
Initial jobless claims dropped 15,000 to 233,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting jobless claims to reach
245,000 last week.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve manufacturing index dropped to 19.5 in July, compared to 27.6 in June. However, aconomists
projected a reading of 24.
.
The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.6 percent for June.
Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 28 billion cubic feet for the week ended July 14, the U.S. Energy Information
Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 32 billion cubic feet.
Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.
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