Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Rises 80 Points; Red Robin Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.31% to 26,085 while the NASDAQ rose 0.46% to 7,828.48. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.30% to 2,888.39.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 1.4% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Frontline Ltd. FRO 10.37%, up 12%, and Nordic American Tankers Limited NAT 11.27%, up 11%.

In trading on Thursday, health care shares fell by 0.3%.

Top Headline

RH RH 19.24% reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter and raised FY2019 guidance.

RH on Wednesday afternoon reported quarterly earnings of $1.85 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.55. The company reported quarterly sales of $598.421 million, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $586.62 million.

The company also raised FY2019 guidance from $8.01-$8.69 to $8.76-$9.27 versus $8.40 estimates.

Equities Trading UP

Coda Octopus Group, Inc. CODA 38.52% shares shot up 41% to $13.68 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results.

Shares of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. RRGB 30.28% got a boost, shooting up 32% to $33.56. Activist investor Vintage Capital is making some demands of Red Robin, saying, "the board should immediately commence a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives." An amended 13D filing from Vintage Capital shows a 11.6% stake in the restaurant chain. The activist investor said "subject to confirmatory due diligence, we would be prepared to bid $40.00 per share in the auction process to acquire 100% of the company in an all-cash transaction."

OpGen, Inc. OPGN 18.23% shares were also up, gaining 23% to $0.5210 after the company announced new data which showed clinical utility for antibiotic-resistant urinary tract infection patient management.

Equities Trading DOWN

Savara Inc. SVRA 75.69% shares tumbled 75% to $2.5950. Savara said a Phase 3 study dubbed IMPALA that evaluated its Molgradex for the treatment of autoimmune alveolar pulmonary proteinosis, or aPAP, did not meet its primary endpoint. An average A-aDO2 improvement of 12.1 mmHg was observed in the continuous dosing compared to an 8.8 mmHg improvement in the placebo arm, with an estimated 4.6 mmHg treatment difference suggesting the primary endpoint was not met.

Shares of Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. RKDA 32.74% were down 33% to $3.9750 after the company announced a direct offering of 1.49 million shares at $5.035 per share.

Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. HEB 22.62% was down, falling 22% to $5.28 after the company announced the first patient has been treated in the Phase 2 recurrent ovarian cancer program evaluating Ampligen in combination with Pembrolizumab and Cisplatin.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.4% to $52.34, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,345.20.

Silver traded up 1% Thursday to $14.905, while copper rose 0.2% to $2.658.

Euro zone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.16%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.09%, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.82%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.44%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.01% while UK shares rose 0.01%.

Economics

Initial jobless claims increased 3,000 to 222,000 last week. However, economists were expecting a reading of 216,000.

The import price index fell 0.3% for May, while export prices declined 0.2% for May.

Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 102 billion cubic feet for the week ended June 7, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 108 billion cubic feet.

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