Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.51 percent to 26,520.53 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.71 percent to
8,064.72. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.60 percent to 2,923.46.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Thursday afternoon, the communication services shares rose 1.28 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included
Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM)
up 7 percent, and pdvWireless, Inc. (NASDAQ: PDVW) up 5 percent.
In trading on Thursday, materials shares fell 0.74 percent.
Top Headline
Conagra Brands Inc (NYSE: CAG) posted
downbeat results for its first quarter and issued weak forecast for the current quarter.
Conagra posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.47 per share on sales of $1.834 billion. However, analysts were expecting
earnings of $0.49 per share on sales of $1.85 billion.
ConAgra expects Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.57 to $0.60 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $0.65 per share.
Equities Trading UP
Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHV) shares shot up 89 percent to $5.1499 after the company earlier reported
results from a study showing that a new formulation for its cytisine anti-smoking candidate demonstrated bioequivalence in both fed
and fasted subjects.
Shares of Cameco Corporation (NYSE: CCJ)
got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $11.395 after the company received a favorable ruling by the Tax Court of Canada.
Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTGX) shares were also up, gaining 19 percent to $10.57 after the company reported
Fast Track designation for PTG-300.
Equities Trading DOWN
Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) shares
dropped 64 percent to $2.26. Geron announced ahead of the market open that Johnson & Johnson's Janssen unit has decided to
terminate a collaboration and licensing agreement it had with Geron since 2014 for its myelofibrosis treatment candidate
Imetelstat, effective Sept. 28. Consequently, Geron now regains the rights to develop and commercialize the telomerase
inhibitor.
Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) were down 22 percent to $14.7959 after the company reported
weaker-than-expected results for its second quarter. The company sees FY18 EPS at the low end of its previously guided range.
Second-quarter comps were down 0.6 percent.
Urovant Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ: UROV)
was down, falling around 25 percent to $10.55. Urovant Sciences priced its IPO at $14 per share.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.46 percent to $71.90 while gold traded down 0.94 percent to $1,187.80.
Silver traded down 0.77 percent Thursday to $14.29, while copper fell 1.57 to $2.7835.
Eurozone
European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.35 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.03
percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.62 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.40 percent, and the French CAC 40
rose 0.50 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.45 percent.
Economics
U.S. durable goods orders rose 4.5 percent for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.9 percent gain.
U.S. gross domestic product increased at an annualized rate of 4.2 percent for the second quarter. Economists expected a growth
rate of 4.2 percent.
U.S. jobless claims increased 12,000 to 214,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a reading of 208.000.
U.S. trade deficit in goods increased 5.3 percent to $75.8 billion during August.
U.S. wholesale inventories rose 0.8 percent for August.
The pending home sales index declined 1.8 percent for August.
Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 46 billion cubic feet for the week ended September 21, the U.S. Energy Information
Administration reported. Analysts projected a gain of 63 billion cubic feet.
Data on farm prices for August will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will speak at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.
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