Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; United Natural Foods Profit Beats Expectations

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.02 percent to 22,162.84 while the NASDAQ declined 0.35 percent to 6,437.35. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.16 percent to 2,494.45.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday morning, the energy shares surged 0.55 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included W&T Offshore, Inc. WTI, up 10 percent, and Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. TOO, up 6 percent.

In trading on Thursday, basic materials shares fell 0.75 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included United States Steel Corporation X, down 5 percent, and Cleveland-Cliffs Inc CLF down 4 percent.

Top Headline

United Natural Foods, Inc. UNFI reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Wednesday.

United Natural Foods posted Q4 adjusted earnings of $0.72 per share on revenue of $2.34 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.70 per share on sales of $2.36 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. HALO shares shot up 19 percent to $15.65. Bristol-Myers and Halozyme disclosed a collaboration and license agreement using Halozyme's ENHANZE technology. The company also announced the licensing of its ENHANZE to Roche. Halozyme Therapeutics raised its FY sales outlook.

Shares of Autoliv Inc. ALV got a boost, shooting up 11 percent to $125.23. Autoliv initiated strategic review to consider separation of business segments into Passive Safety and Electronics.

United Natural Foods, Inc. UNFI shares were also up, gaining 10 percent to $40.98 after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Summit Therapeutics PLC (ADR) SMMT shares dropped 18 percent to $12.50. Summit Therapeutics priced public offering of 1.459 million ADS's at $12.00 per ADS.

Shares of Workhorse Group Inc WKHS were down 15 percent to $2.99. Workhorse priced its 3.75 million share common stock and warrant offering at $3.20 per share.

BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ADR) BVXV was down, falling around 8 percent to $6.99. BiondVax priced its 1.5 million ADS offering at $6.00 per ADS.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.24 percent to $49.91 while gold traded down 0.07 percent to $1,327.10.

Silver traded down 0.43 percent Thursday to $17.79, while copper fell 0.57 percent to $2.964.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.02 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.57 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.17 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.27 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.02 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.81 percent.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.40 percent for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent growth.

Initial jobless claims declined to 284,000 in the latest week, versus a prior reading of 298,000. Economists projected jobless claims to reach 300,000 last week.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

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