Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Kirkland's Falls On Disappointing Q1 Results; ContraVir Pharmaceuticals Shares Climb

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.37 percent to 25,633 while the NASDAQ rose 0.06 percent to 7,580. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.33 percent to 2,835.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose 1.2 percent on Thursday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included SRC Energy Inc. SRCI, up 4 percent, and TechnipFMC plc FTI, up 3 percent.

In trading on Thursday, industrial shares fell by 0.4 percent.

Top Headline

Ciena Corporation CIEN reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Ciena's adjusted earnings came in at 48 cents per share, which beat the estimate of 41 cents. Ciena reported second-quarter sales of $865 million, which beat the $819 million estimate.

Equities Trading UP

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company LJPC shares shot up 106 percent to $10.94 after the company's Phase 2 Study of LJPC-401 in patients with hereditary hemochromatosis showed statistical significance in primary and secondary endpoints and was well tolerated.

Shares of ContraVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CTRV got a boost, shooting up 67 percent to $8.34. ContraVir, which focuses on therapies for liver diseases arising from non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, as well as chronic viral infection, announced Thursday ahead of the market open that a preclinical study of its lead product candidate CRV431 showed that it significantly reduced the extent of fibrosis in a second animal model of liver fibrosis. Fibrosis is the scarring of liver — and is a chief symptom of NASH that impairs liver function. ContraVir is developing CRV431 for NASH, fibrosis and other liver diseases such as viral hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. A Phase 1 single ascending dose study of CRV431 was safe and well-tolerated in humans, the company said.

Ciena Corporation CIEN shares were also up, gaining 25 percent to $44.73 after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

At Home Group Inc HOME shares tumbled 55 percent to $7.86 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 EPS results and cut FY20 EPS guidance.

Shares of Kirkland's, Inc. KIRK were down 49 percent to $2.15 after the company posted downbeat Q1 results.

Eros International Plc EROS was down, falling 52 percent to $3.505 after CARE Ratings downgraded the company's credit rating from 'BBB-' to 'D' (default).

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1 percent to $51.71, while gold traded up 0.7 percent to $1,342.30.

Silver traded up 0.7 percent Thursday to $14.895, while copper rose 1 percent to $2.6485.

Euro zone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.02 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.2 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.11 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.23 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.26 percent while UK shares rose 0.55 percent.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims were unchanged at 218,000 for the latest week. Economists were expecting a reading of 215,000.

The U.S. trade deficit declined 2.1 percent to $50.8 billion in April, compared to revised $51.9 billion in March. However, economists projected a $50.7 billion deficit. Exports fell 2.2 percent to $206.8 billion, while imports slipped 2.2 percent to $257.6 billion in April.

U.S. nonfarm productivity increased at an annual pace of 3.4 percent in the first quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 3.5 percent growth.

Domestic supplies of natural gas climbed 119 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 31, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 111 billion cubic feet.

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