Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Alcoa Drops On Downbeat Q4 Results; Signet Jewelers Shares Gain

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.61% to 29209 while the NASDAQ rose 0.74% to 9,327. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.58% to 3,309.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 0.8% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Moneygram International Inc MGI 24.89%, up 22%, and 30.66 AXTI 7.39%, up 9%.

In trading on Thursday, health care shares rose by just 0.1%.

Top Headline

Morgan Stanley MS 7.13% reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Morgan Stanley reported fourth-quarter earnings of $1.2 per share Wednesday, beating the Street estimate of $0.99. The company reported quarterly sales of $10.857 billion, beating the Street estimate of $9.78 billion.

Goldman Sachs reported fourth-quarter investment banking revenue of $7.6 billion, down 7% year-over-year; global markets revenue that was higher by 2% year-over-year; and flat year-over-year asset management revenue.

Equities Trading UP

Signet Jewelers Limited SIG 43.9% shares shot up 43% to $30.66 after the company raised Q4 and FY19 EPS guidance above analyst estimates. The company also reported increase in holiday and e-commerce sales.

Shares of The McClatchy Company MNI 250.79% got a boost, shooting up 306% to $1.78 after the company announced it entered into a standstill agreement with the PBGC.

Cemtrex, Inc. CETX 31.87% shares were also up, gaining 29% to $2.35 after the company authorized a buyback of 2 million shares of common stock and series 1 preferred stock over 3 years.

Equities Trading DOWN

Qudian Inc. QD 18.11% shares tumbled 18% to $3.6150 after the company withdrew its guidance. The company also declared $500 million buyback program.

Shares of Alcoa Corporation AA 10% were down 10% to $18.16 after the company reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

My Size, Inc. MYSZ 18.56% was down, falling 17% to $3.2332. My Size reported a $2 million registered direct offering priced at the market.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.5% to $58.66, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,551.50.

Silver traded down 0.1% Thursday to $17.965, while copper fell 0.7% to $2.847.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.22%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.64%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.74% Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.02%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.11% while UK shares fell 0.43%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims dropped 10,000 to 204,000 in the week ending January 11th.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index increased 14.6 points to a reading of 17 in January.

US retail sales rose 0.3% in December, versus a revised 0.3% increase in the prior month.

Import prices rose 0.3% in December, compared to a 0.1% increase in November. Export prices fell 0.2% in December, following a 0.2% rise in the previous month.

U.S. business inventories dropped 0.2% in November, versus a revised 0.1% increase in October.

The NAHB housing market index slipped to 75 in January, versus a reading of 76 in the prior month.

Domestic supplies of natural gas dropped 109 billion cubic feet for the week ended January 10, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a decline of 92 billion cubic feet.

The Treasury International Capital report for November is schedule for release at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Data on money supply for the recent week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.