Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Slides 160 Points; Helios and Matheson Analytics Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.65 percent to 24,587.71 while the NASDAQ declined 1.01 percent to 7,221.27. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.90 percent to 2,684.27.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, the financial shares climbed 1.08 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. TCBI 7.68%, up 7 percent, and China Internet Nationwide Financial Services Inc. CIFS 8.03%, up 7 percent.

In trading on Thursday, consumer staples shares fell 3.6 percent.

Top Headline

Philip Morris International Inc. PM 15.58% shares fell around 15 percent after the company reported better-than-expected profit for its first quarter, while revenue missed estimates.

The company said it earned $1 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $6.9 billion versus expectations of $0.90 per share on revenue of $6.99 billion.

Philip Morris raised its FY18 earnings outlook from $5.20-$5.35 per share to $5.25-$5.40 per share.

Equities Trading UP

OpGen, Inc. OPGN 4.31% shares shot up 22 percent to $2.55. OpGen completed rapid testing clinical trial in Colombia and expanded international operations.

Shares of Bio-Path Holdings, Inc. BPTH 14.46% got a boost, shooting up 14 percent to $1.8990 after reporting pre-clinical data demonstrating potential of Prexigebersen presented at the annual American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Chicago.

AGM Group Holdings Inc. AGMH 34.6% shares were also up, gaining 31 percent to $8.27 after rising 26 percent on Wednesday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aceto Corporation ACET 64.05% shares dropped 63 percent to $2.775 following announcement of financial challenges. The company has suspended further guidance and is evaluating strategic alternatives. Aceto also expects reduction in dividend moving forward. Canaccord Genuity downgraded Aceto from Buy to Sell.

Shares of Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. HMNY 33.42% were down 38 percent to $2.38 after pricing its $30 million public offering.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. SHOS 33.85% was down, falling around 29 percent to $2.30. Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores reported a Q4 loss of $1.46 per share on revenue of $395.77 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.07 percent to $68.42 while gold traded down 0.37 percent to $1,348.50.

Silver traded down 0.02 percent Thursday to $17.245, while copper fell 1.08 percent to $3.147.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.02 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.11 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.14 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.19 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.21 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.16 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims declined 1,000 to 232,000 for the latest week.

The Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing index rose 1 point to a reading of 23.2 for April.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.3 percent for March.

Domestic supplies of natural gas slipped 36 billion cubic feet for the week ended April 13, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts expected a drop of 25 billion cubic feet.

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

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester is set to speak in Pittsburgh at 6:45 p.m. ET.