Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASDAQ Down 1.5%; Perrigo Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.56 percent to 21,925.81 while the NASDAQ declined 1.52 percent to 6,256.89. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.96 percent to 2,450.33.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services fell by just 0.03 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Hudson Technologies, Inc. HDSN, up 19 percent, and Chefs' Warehouse Inc CHEF, up 16 percent.

In trading on Thursday, technology shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 1.48 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Quantum Corp QTM, down 26 percent, and Magnachip Semiconductor Corp MX, down 11 percent.

Top Headline

Macy's Inc DIS reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Macy's posted adjusted earnings of $0.48 per share on revenue of $5.55 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.46 per share on revenue of $5.52 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Hudson Technologies, Inc. HDSN shares shot up 19 percent to $9.50 after the company posted upbeat Q2 results. Air Liquide's Airgas announced a deal with Hudson Technologies for sale of Airgas-Refrigerants unit.

Shares of Perrigo Company plc PRGO got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $77.37 as the company reported upbeat Q2 earnings. SK Capital announced an agreement to acquire Perrigo’s active pharmaceutical ingredients business.

Chefs' Warehouse Inc CHEF shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $16.85 as the company posted better-than-expected quarterly results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc BW shares dropped 67 percent to $3.18. Babcock & Wilcox reported a Q2 loss of $151 million on sales of $349.8 million.

Shares of Forterra Inc FRTA were down 52 percent to $3.96. Forterra reported quarterly loss of $0.18 per share on revenue of $436.7 million.

Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. CBI was down, falling around 33 percent to $11.00 after the company posted a surprise loss for its second quarter and reported its intent to sell technology unit.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.61 percent to $48.76 while gold traded up 0.88 percent to $1,290.60.

Silver traded up 1.26 percent Thursday to $17.075, while copper fell 0.79 percent to $2.904.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.38 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.76 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dipped 1.15 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.59 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.44 percent.

Economics

U.S. jobless claims increased 3,000 to 244,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 240,000.

The producer price index declined 0.1 percent in July, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1 percent growth.

Domestic supplies of natural gas gained 28 billion cubic feet for the week ended August 4, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were projecting a growth of 38 billion cubic feet.

The U.S. Treasury budget report for July 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.