Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Delta Air Tops Q2 Estimates

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.43% to 26899.61 while the NASDAQ rose 0.01% to 8,202.94. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.13% to 2,996.85.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares rose 0.5% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Bitauto Holdings Limited BITA, up 9%, and Cellcom Israel Ltd. CEL, up 5%.

In trading on Thursday, real estate shares fell 0.3%.

Top Headline

Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its FY19 EPS forecast.

The company reported second-quarter earnings of $2.35 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.25. Delta Air Lines reported quarterly sales of $12.536 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $12.48 billion.

Delta Air raised its FY19 EPS to $6-$7 to $6.75-$7.25. The company said it expects Q3 EPS of $2.10-$2.40.

Equities Trading UP

Co-Diagnostics, Inc. CODX shares shot up 52% to $1.32 after the company announced the launch of its Vector Smart NAM test to identify the presence of multiple diseases in mosquito populations.
Shares of Immunic, Inc. IMUX got a boost, shooting up 41% to $15.45 after Chardan Capital initiated coverage on the company's stock with a Buy rating and a $40 price target.

ATIF Holdings Limited ATIF shares were also up, gaining 29% to $4.01 after reporting a $1.6 million financial consulting service agreement with Shenzhen Micro Union Gold League Electronic Commerce Technology Co., Ltd.

Equities Trading DOWN

Vislink Technologies, Inc. VISL shares tumbled 46% to $2.22. Vislink Technologies announced pricing offering of common stock and warrants at $2 per share for total proceeds of $12 million.

Shares of Inuvo, Inc. INUV were down 26% to $0.2741 after the company priced a 13.75 million share common stock offering at $0.30 per share.

Leap Therapeutics, Inc. LPTX was down, falling 12% to $1.8202 after the company reported a $21 million common stock purchase deal with Lincoln Park Capital.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.2% to $60.54, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,416.90.

Silver traded up 0.1% Thursday to $15.235, while copper fell 0.2% to $2.69.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.5%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.2%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.1% while UK shares fell 0.1%.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index increased 0.1% for June.

Initial jobless claims fell 13,000 to 209,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting a reading of 220,000.

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

New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in Albany, NY at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-and 8-week bills at 1:00 p.m. ET.

New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will speak in Albany, NY at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Federal Board of Governors Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles is set to speak in Washington, D.C. at 1:30 p.m. ET.

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

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

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in Aberdeen, South Dakota at 5:00 p.m. ET.