Mid-Day Market Update: Kelly Services Gains Following Strong Q4 Earnings; Marchex Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.37% to 29,441.85 while the NASDAQ fell 0.15% to 9,711.42. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.15% to 3,374.33.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 0.6% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Redfin Corporation (NASDAQ: RDFN), up 14%, and Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: IRT), up 5%.

In trading on Thursday, energy shares fell 0.6%.

Top Headline

PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEP) reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

PepsiCo reported fourth-quarter EPS at $1.45, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.44. The company reported revenue at $20.64 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $20.27 billion.

PepsiCo said it projects 2020 adjusted EPS growth of 7% and organic revenue growth of 4%. The company also announced plans to lift its dividend by 7% to $4.09 per share.

Equities Trading UP

CounterPath Corporation (NASDAQ: CPAH) shares shot up 37% to $2.94 after the company announced it has secured a 5-year deal with Vodafone Fiji to extend superior quality voice services to consumers.

Shares of Exterran Corporation (NYSE: EXTN) got a boost, shooting 23% to $5.65 after the company issued Q4 operational update. Exterran expects Q4 preliminary sales of $265 million to $275 million.

Kelly Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: KELYA) shares were also up, gaining 13% to $20.43 after the company reported upbeat Q4 earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBIO) shares tumbled 21% to $6.32 after the company priced 4.615 million share common stock offering at $6.50 per share.

Shares of Marchex, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHX) were down 24% to $3.05 after the company reported Q4 results.

SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR) was down, falling 15% to $9.28 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 sales. Cowen & Co also downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.5% to $51.43, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,578.90.

Silver traded up 1% Thursday to $17.675, while copper rose 0.7% to $2.618.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.22%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.58%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.04% Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.22%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.5% while UK shares fell 1.24%.

Economics

The consumer price index increased 0.1% in January, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1% increase.

Initial jobless claims increased 2,000 to 205,000 in the latest week. However, analysts were expecting a reading of 210,000.

Domestic supplies of natural gas dropped 115 billion cubic feet for the week ended February 7, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a fall of 108 billion cubic feet.

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 12:45 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams will speak at 5:30 p.m. ET.

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