Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.51 percent to 23,449.17 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.09 percent to
6,569.89. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.29 percent to 2,564.68.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Thursday morning, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares slipped by just 0.81 percent.
In trading on Thursday, healthcare shares fell 0.55 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Celgene
Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG), down 19 percent, and
Anika Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: ANIK) down 8
percent.
Top Headline
Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) reported better-than-expected
results for its third quarter.
Twitter earned 10 cents per share in the third quarter on revenue of $590 million. Wall Street analysts were expecting the
social media company to earn seven cents per share on revenue of $568 million.
Equities Trading UP
Achieve Life Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: ACHV) shares
shot up 52 percent to $2.88 after the company disclosed an exclusive and long-term manufacturing agreement with Sopharma for the
clinical and commercial supply of cytisine.
Shares of Cumulus Media Inc (NASDAQ: CMLS) got a
boost, shooting up 32 percent to $0.420 after the company issued a strong sales forecast for the third quarter.
Vistagen Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: VTGN) shares
were also up, gaining 28 percent to $1.31 after the company reported the FDA authorization to initiate Phase 2 study of AV-101 for
major depressive disorder.
Equities Trading DOWN
Atossa Genetics Inc (NASDAQ: ATOS) shares dropped
45 percent to $0.468. Atossa Genetics priced 11.5 million shares at $0.44 per share.
Shares of Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: IDRA)
were down 30 percent to $1.41. Idera Pharmaceuticals priced its 33.33 million share offering at $1.50 per share.
Essendant Inc (NASDAQ: ESND) was down, falling
around 21 percent to $9.97 after the company reported weak Q3 results and FY17 guidance.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.04 percent to $52.20 while gold traded down 0.16 percent to $1,276.90.
Silver traded up 0.09 percent Thursday to $16.94, while copper fell 0.47 percent to $3.168.
Eurozone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.65 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 2.23 percent, while
Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 1.12 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.55 percent, and the French CAC 40 surged 0.78
percent while U.K. shares rose 0.52 percent.
Economics
U.S. initial weekly jobless claims increased 10,000 to 233,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to
reach 235,000 last week.
U.S. trade deficit in goods increased 1.3 percent to $64.1 billion in September versus $63.3 billion. Imports gained $1.7
billion to $193.7 billion in September, while exports climbed $900 million to $129.6 billion.
The pending home sales index came in unchanged at 106 for September, versus a downwardly-revised reading for August. However,
economists were expecting a 0.2 percent growth.
The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at
10:30 a.m. ET.
Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari is set to speak in Minneapolis 10:30 a.m. ET.
The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for October will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.
The Treasury is set to auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.
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