Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down 2%; Infinity Pharmaceuticals Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.05 percent to 22,862.31 while the NASDAQ slipped 0.01 percent to 6,602.76. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.06 percent to 2,553.83.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares surged 0.69 percent.

In trading on Thursday, telecommunications services shares fell 1.01 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included AT&T Inc. T 6.1%, down 4 percent, and Comcast Corporation CMCSA 3.93% down 3 percent.

Top Headline

JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM 0.88% posted stronger-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

JPMorgan posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.76 per share on revenue of $26.2 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $1.65 per share on revenue of $25.2 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Ardelyx Inc ARDX 44.44% shares shot up 47 percent to $7.95 after the company disclosed that its pivotal Phase 3 study of tenapanor hit primary and all secondary endpoints.

Shares of Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. INFI 123.35% got a boost, shooting up 98 percent to $3.31. The biopharma company's IPI-549 monotherapy data was selected for a "late-breaker" oral presentation at the Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer's annual meeting in November. Wells Fargo upgraded Infinity Pharma from Market Perform to Outperform.

Spartan Motors Inc SPAR 20.99% shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $14.08 after the company issued details of its long-term growth objectives. Spartan Motors expects $1 billion in sales by 2020 and 10 percent adjusted EBITDA margin.

Equities Trading DOWN

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc ACRX 59.81% shares dropped 58 percent to $2.22 after the company disclosed that it received a CRL from the FDA regarding its NDA for DSUVIA. The FDA did not approve the NDA in its present form.

Shares of J.Jill Inc JILL 51.06% were down 51 percent to $4.88 after the company issued a weak earnings outlook for the third quarter. The company expects adjusted earnings $0.08-$0.10 per share versus the sell-side consensus estimate of $0.19.

NanoString Technologies Inc NSTG 27.84% was down, falling around 33 percent to $10.42 as the company issued weak preliminary guidance for the third quarter. The company also reduced its Q3 Product & Service sales guidance. Cowen & Co. downgraded NanoString from Outperform to Market Perform, while Janney Capital downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.03 percent to $50.26 while gold traded up 0.51 percent to $1,295.50.

Silver traded up 0.68 percent Thursday to $17.25, while copper rose 0.76 percent to $3.119.

Eurozone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.03 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.02 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.68 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.09 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.03 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.30 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims dropped 15,000 to 243,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 250,000 last week.

The producer price index rose 0.4 percent in September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent gain.

Domestic supplies of natural gas increased 87 billion cubic feet in the week ended October 6, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a gain of 82 billion cubic feet.

Domestic crude supplies declined 2.75 million barrels for the week ended October 6, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a drop of 1.99 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles rose 2.49 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 1.48 million barrels for the week.

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

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Hong Kong at 9:15 p.m. ET.