Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 2.7%; Murphy Oil Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.84 percent to 25,383.33 while the NASDAQ declined 0.43 percent to 7,389.86. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.94 percent to 2,759.37.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Thursday, the communication services shares slipped by just 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Sify Technologies Limited SIFY 3.98% up 4 percent, andBeasley Broadcast Group, Inc. BBGI 2.69% up 3 percent.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 2.36 percent.

Top Headline

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. WBA 0.68% reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed estimates.

Walgreens posted quarterly earnings of $1.48 per share on revenue of $33.44 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.45 per share on sales of $33.78 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Murphy Oil Corporation MUR 12.2% shares shot up 11 percent to $35.30 after the company late Wednesday announced a joint venture with Petrobas America.

Shares of Green Plains Inc. GPRE 15.84% got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $19.03 after the company agreed to sell 3 ethanol plants to Valero Renewable Fuels for $300 million in cash plus $28 million of working capital.

L Brands, Inc. LB 7.99% shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $30.970 after the company disclosed that it is pursuing alternatives for its La Senza business.

Equities Trading DOWN

Atomera Incorporated ATOM 21.05% shares dropped 22 percent to $4.58. Atomera priced 2.625 million shares of common stock at $4.75 per share.

Shares of Fluor Corporation FLR 16.19% were down 17 percent to $46.93 after the company issued preliminary third-quarter sales figures of $4.6 billion, $350 million below consensus estimates. The company expects third-quarter pre-tax earnings of $125 million.

ENDRA Life Sciences Inc. NDRA 9.41% was down, falling around 16 percent to $2.144 after reporting a proposed public offering of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.7 percent to $71.19 while gold traded up 2.24 percent to $1,220.10.

Silver traded up 1.77 percent Thursday to $14.58, while copper rose 0.61 to $2.7975.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 2.01 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.7 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 1.81 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.81 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 1.95 percent while U.K. shares fell 2.05 percent.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index increased 0.1 percent for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent rise.

Initial jobless claims rose 7,000 to 214,000 in the latest week. However, economists projected a reading of 206,000.

Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 90 billion cubic feet for the week ended October 5, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a gain of 91 billion cubic feet.

U.S. crude-oil inventories rose 5.99 million barrels for the week ended October 5, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts expected a rise of 2.62 million barrels.

The U.S. Treasury budget report for September is schedule for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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