Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.10 percent to 23,134.42 while the NASDAQ declined 0.51 percent to
6,590.67. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.09 percent to 2,558.84.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Thursday afternoon, the utilities shares surged 0.49 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Korea Electric
Power Corporation (ADR) (NYSE: KEP), up 3 percent, and
Pure Cycle Corporation (NASDAQ: PCYO), up 2
percent.
In trading on Thursday, technology shares fell 0.55 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Internap Corp
(NASDAQ: INAP), down 6 percent, and Bitauto Hldg Ltd
(ADR) (NYSE: BITA) down 5 percent.
Top Headline
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) posted
better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.
Verizon posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.98 per share on revenue of $31.71 billion. However, analysts expected earnings
of $0.98 per share on revenue of $31.45 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Uniqure NV (NASDAQ: QURE) shares shot up 55
percent to $14.69. uniQure disclosed that it has acquired a patent family providing broad protection of the hyperactive padua
variant of Factor IX.
Shares of Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: IMMY) got a boost, shooting up 40 percent to $2.04 after the company announced
Thursday the release of a 99-cent alternative to Allergan PLC (NYSE: AGN)'s Restasis to address the 30 million Americans suffering from Dry Eye
Disease.
Alcobra Ltd (NASDAQ: ADHD) shares were also up,
gaining 26 percent to $1.60 as the company reported a collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation to discover and develop RNA
medicines.
Equities Trading DOWN
Ocean Power Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: OPTT) shares
dropped 33 percent to $1.34. Ocean Power Technologies priced its 5,739,437 share common stock offering at $1.42 per share.
Shares of Earthstone Energy Inc (NYSE: ESTE) were
down 15 percent to $8.98. Earthstone Energy priced an underwritten public offering of 4,500,000 shares of its Class A common stock
at $9.25 per share.
Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: IMNP) was
down, falling around 39 percent to $0.930. Immune Pharmaceuticals priced an underwritten public offering of convertible preferred
stock and warrants for gross proceeds of $18,000,000.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.25 percent to $51.39 while gold traded up 0.54 percent to $1,289.90.
Silver traded up 1.52 percent Thursday to $17.255, while copper fell 0.35 percent to $3.167.
Eurozone
European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.63 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.74 percent,
while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 0.99 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.41 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped
0.29 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.26 percent.
Economics
Initial jobless claims declined 22,000 to 222,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 240,000
last week.
The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index rose 4.1 points to 27.9 in October. Economists projected a reading of 20.
The index of leading economic indicators declined 0.2 percent for September.
Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 51 billion cubic feet for the week ended October 13, the U.S. Energy Information
Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 55 billion cubic feet.
Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.
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