Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; JPMorgan Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.07 percent to 22,857.17 while the NASDAQ declined 0.09 percent to 6,597.61. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.12 percent to 2,552.15.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares surged 0.44 percent.

In trading on Thursday, telecommunications services shares fell 0.96 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included AT&T Inc. T 4.19%, down 4 percent, and Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc CNSL 3.28% down 3 percent.

Top Headline

JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM 0.94% posted stronger-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

JPMorgan posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.76 per share on revenue of $26.2 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $1.65 per share on revenue of $25.2 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Ardelyx Inc ARDX 46.3% shares shot up 46 percent to $7.90 after the company disclosed that its pivotal Phase 3 study of tenapanor hit primary and all secondary endpoints.

Shares of Infinity Pharmaceuticals Inc. INFI 75.44% got a boost, shooting up 71 percent to $2.84 after jumping 14.38 percent on Wednesday. Infinity Pharma reported an IPI-549 late-breaking presentation at the 2017 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting. Wells Fargo upgraded Infinity Pharma from Market Perform to Outperform.

Anavex Life Sciences Corp.AVXL 6.97% shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $4.44 after the company disclosed that its Phase 2a trial of ANAVEX2-73 met primary and secondary endpoints.

Equities Trading DOWN

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc ACRX 57.01% shares dropped 56 percent to $2.35 after the company disclosed that it received a CRL from the FDA regarding its NDA for DSUVIA. The FDA did not approve the NDA in its present form.

Shares of J.Jill Inc JILL 51.11% were down 49 percent to $5.05 after the company issued a weak earnings outlook for the third quarter. The company expects adjusted earnings $0.08-$0.10 per share versus the sell-side consensus estimate of $0.19.

NanoString Technologies Inc NSTG 37.29% was down, falling around 33 percent to $10.46 as the company issued weak preliminary guidance for the third quarter. The company also reduced its Q3 Product & Service sales guidance.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.27 percent to $50.65 while gold traded up 0.41 percent to $1,294.20.

Silver traded up 0.36 percent Thursday to $17.195, while copper rose 0.65 percent to $3.1155.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.09 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.16 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.58 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.04 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.22 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.29 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims dropped 15,000 to 243,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 250,000 last week.

The producer price index rose 0.4 percent in September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent gain.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak in Washington at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell will speak in Washington at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The EIA’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 30-year bonds at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury budget report for September will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Hong Kong at 9:15 p.m. ET.