Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.16 percent to 24,729.12 while the NASDAQ declined 0.12 percent to
7,389.42. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01 percent to 2,722.25.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Thursday afternoon, the energy shares rose 1.16 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Seadrill Limited
(NYSE: SDRL), up 33 percent, and Ultra Petroleum Corp.
(NYSE: UPL) up 14 percent.
In trading on Thursday, utilities shares fell 0.78 percent.
Top Headline
Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) reported better-than-expected
results for its first quarter.
Walmart said it earned $1.14 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $120.7 billion versus Wall Street's estimate of $1.13
per share on revenue of $120.51 billion.
Walmart U.S. comp sales rose 2.1 percent, comp traffic rose 0.8 percent. Comp sales at Sam's Club rose 3.8 percent on a traffic
growth of 5.6 percent. Online sales also grew 33 percent in the quarter which marks a reversal from the prior quarter's
disappointing performance in the prior quarter.
Equities Trading UP
Carver Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: CARV) shares shot up
124 percent to $8.19.
Shares of Loxo Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOXO) got a
boost, shooting up 19 percent to $165.585. The biopharmaceutical company that focuses on medicines for patients with genetically
defined cancers said its oral presentation of LOXO-292 was selected for the "Best of ASCO" program.
BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. (NASDAQ: BDSI) shares were also up, gaining 19 percent to $2.3272 after the company
announced board restructuring plan and $50m equity financing deal led by Broadfin to "significantly strengthen" financial
position.
Equities Trading DOWN
Jounce Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNCE) shares
dropped 32 percent to $11.95. Abstract of the Phase 1/2 ICONIC trial that evaluated JTX-2011 monotherapy as well as in combination
with nivolumab showed that the company has met its target enrolment in its combination cohorts across four solid tumor types,
namely gastric cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, head and neck squamous cell cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.
Shares of J C Penney Company Inc (NYSE: JCP) were
down 11 percent to $2.725 after the company reported downbeat Q1 sales and lowered its FY2018 guidance.
Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNDX) was
down, falling around 22 percent to $8.634 after the company issued updated results from Phase 2 ENCORE trial of entinostat in combo
with KEYTRUDA.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.22 percent to $71.33 while gold traded down 0.13 percent to $1,289.80.
Silver traded up 0.64 percent Thursday to $16.475, while copper rose 0.50 to $3.086.
Eurozone
European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.66 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.04 percent,
while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.29 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.91 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.98
percent while U.K. shares rose 0.70 percent.
Economics
Initial jobless claims increased 11,000 to 222,000 in the latest week. Economists were projecting claims to total 215,000 last
week.
The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index rose to 34.4 for May, compared to 23.3 in April. Economists expected a reading of
21.9.
The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.4 percent for April.
Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 106 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 11, the U.S. Energy Information
Administration reported. Analysts expected a gain of 104 billion cubic feet.
Data on money supply for the latest week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.
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