Mid-Afternoon Market Update: EXFO Falls On Downbeat Q3 Results; Co-Diagnostics Shares Surge

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.51% to 26,996.63 while the NASDAQ fell 0.24% to 8,183.09. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.06% to 2,991.27.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose 0.4% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Nutanix, Inc. NTNX 4.17%, up 6%, and StoneCo Ltd. STNE 8.97%, up 8%.

In trading on Thursday, real estate shares fell 1.5%.

Top Headline

Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL 1.16% reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its FY19 EPS forecast.

The company reported second-quarter earnings of $2.35 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.25. Delta Air Lines reported quarterly sales of $12.536 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $12.48 billion.

Delta Air raised its FY19 EPS to $6-$7 to $6.75-$7.25. The company said it expects Q3 EPS of $2.10-$2.40.

Equities Trading UP

Co-Diagnostics, Inc. CODX 27.59% shares shot up 42% to $1.2384 after the company announced the launch of its Vector Smart NAM test to identify the presence of multiple diseases in mosquito populations.

Shares of Immunic, Inc. IMUX 39.91% got a boost, shooting up 58% to $17.24 after Chardan Capital initiated coverage on the company's stock with a Buy rating and a $40 price target.

Revolution Lighting Technologies, Inc. RVLT 128.8% shares were also up, gaining 132% to $0.5782 after the company was granted an extension to remain listed on Nasdaq.

Equities Trading DOWN

Vislink Technologies, Inc. VISL 55.61% shares tumbled 55% to $1.8350. Vislink Technologies announced pricing offering of common stock and warrants at $2 per share for total proceeds of $12 million.

Shares of Inuvo, Inc. INUV 22.8% were down 20% to $0.2950 after the company priced a 13.75 million share common stock offering at $0.30 per share.

EXFO Inc. EXFO 8.97% was down, falling 8% to $3.60 after the company reported downbeat results for its third quarter and issued weak forecast for the fourth quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.1% to $60.41, while gold traded down 0.3% to $1,408.20.

Silver traded down 0.5% Thursday to $15.145, while copper fell 0.2% to $2.688.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.12%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.3%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.56%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.33%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.28% while UK shares fell 0.28%.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index increased 0.1% for June.

Initial jobless claims fell 13,000 to 209,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a reading of 220,000.

Domestic supplies of natural gas gained 81 billion cubic feet for the week ended July 5, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a rise of 72 billion cubic feet.

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

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in Aberdeen, South Dakota at 5:00 p.m. ET.