Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.5 percent to 24,889.57 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.86 percent to
7,244.97. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.28 percent to 2,688.66.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Thursday morning, the communication services shares climbed 3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included
Charter Communications Inc (NASDAQ: CHTR)
up 14 percent, and Liberty Broadband Corp (NASDAQ: LBRDK) up 12 percent.
In trading on Thursday, materials shares fell 2.7 percent.
Top Headline
Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) reported
stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Wednesday.
Earnings came in at $2.38 per share, beating estimates by 19 cents. Sales came in at $16.64 billion, beating estimates by $230
million.
The company estimates that around 2.7 billion people now use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsAppor Messenger each month, and more than
2 billion people use at least one of the four services every day on average. Monthly Active Users were 2.32 billion, a 9 percent
increase year-over-year.
Equities Trading UP
Fortress Biotech (NASDAQ: FBIO) shares
got a boost, shooting up 44 percent to $2.13 after the company highlighted a collaboration between Caelum Biosciences, founded by
Fortress, and Alexion Pharmaceuticals to develop a light chain amyloidosis therapy.
Shares of MeiraGTx Holdings plc (NASDAQ: MGTX) shot up 25 percent to $11.95 after the company reported a global
collaboration and license deal with J&J's Janssen to develop gene therapy programs for inherited retinal diseases.
Eldorado Gold Corporation (NYSE: EGO)
shares were also up, gaining 19 percent to $3.50 after the company announced decision to resume mining and heap leaching at its
Kisladag gold mine. The company also issued three year consolidated production outlook.
Equities Trading DOWN
Co-Diagnostics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CODX)
shares dropped 35 percent to $1.46 after jumping 101.80 percent on Wednesday. Co-Diagnostics reported a $5.5 million registered
direct offering.
Shares of Cimpress N.V. (NASDAQ: CMPR)
were down 29 percent to $82.83 after the company reported downbeat Q2 results.
Net 1 UEPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: UEPS) was down, falling around 27 percent to $3.3722 after the company issued an
update on EPE accounts court process. The company said it expects a loss for the second quarter.
.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.66 percent to $54.59 while gold traded up 1.1 percent to $1,329.70.
Silver traded up 1.34 percent Thursday to $16.14, while copper rose 0.81 percent to $2.79.
Eurozone
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.34 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.66
percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.81 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.69 percent, and the French CAC 40
slipped 0.07 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.34 percent.
Economics
U.S. initial jobless claims rose 53,000 to 253,000 in the latest week. However, analysts were expecting a reading of
215,000.
The employment cost index increased 0.7 percent for the fourth quarter.
The Chicago PMI fell to 56.70 for January, versus prior reading of 65.40. However, economists projected a reading of 61.50.
U.S. new home sales rose 16.9 at an annual rate of 657,000 for November. However, economists were expecting a 560,000 rate.
The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at
10:30 a.m. ET.
The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.
Data on farm prices for December will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.
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