Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Inch Up; Bristol-Myers Squibb Reports Q3 Beat

Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.4% to 27,186.69, while the NASDAQ rose 0.3% to 8,303.98. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.3% to 3,046.77.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares climbed 0.9% on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PG&E Corporation PCG, up 22.1%, and Korea Electric Power Corporation KEP, up 3.9%.

In trading on Thursday, Energy shares fell 2.1%.

Top Headline

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co BMY reported higher-than-expected revenue and earnings for its third quarter.

Bristol-Myers Squibb reported earnings of $1.17 per share, beating estimates of $1.07 per share. The company reported sales of $6.01 billion, versus expectations of $5.89 billion.

Equities Trading UP

• Bonanza Creek Energy Inc BCEI shares spiked 33.8% to $23.82, after KeyCorp analysts cut their Q3 earnings estimates for the company.
• Shares of Can-Fite Biopharma CANF jumped 31.5% to $2.84, after the company announced that the FDA had agreed with its proposed pivotal Phase III trial design to support NDA submission and approval of Namodenoson in the treatment of liver cancer.
• Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc ALDX rose 23.5% to $6.98, after the company shared expanded results from its allergen chamber trials, while announcing that it had reached an agreement with the FDA on the design of its Phase 3 INVIGORATE trial, expected to be initiated in the first half of 2020.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Shares of Sunworks Inc SUNW plummeted 34.9% to $2.05, after the company announced third-quarter revenue of $17.5 million and loss before other expenses of $1.0 million.
• Merit Medical Systems, Inc. MMSI shares slid 32.0% to $19.79, after the company’s third-quarter earnings and revenue missed Street expectations.
• Shares of Pretium Resources, Inc. PVG declined 23.6% to $9.35, after the company reported earnings for its third quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.9% to $54.59, while gold traded up 0.9% to $1,510.20.

Silver traded up 1.1% Tuesday to $18.06, while copper fell 0.8% to $2.665.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.2%, the Spanish Ibex Index was down 0.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.3%. Meanwhile, the German DAX remained flat, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.2% while UK shares fell 1.0%

Economics

The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Weekly Natural Gas Storage report will be released at 9:30 a.m. ET.