Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down Over 2.5%; American Express Shares Gain On Earnings Beat

Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.07 percent to 18,189.27 while the NASDAQ declined 0.03 percent to 5,244.80. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.07 percent to 2,142.89.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Thursday afternoon, healthcare shares gained by 0.52 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. ZIOP, and Fluidigm Corporation FLDM.

In trading on Thursday, telecommunications services shares fell by 0.96 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc CNSL, down 7 percent, and Internet Gold Golden Lines Ltd IGLD, down 6 percent.

Top Headline

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ reported mixed results in the third quarter. While adjusted earnings came in above estimates, revenue missed.

The telecom service firm reported net income of $3.75 billion, or $0.89 a share, on revenue of $30.94 billion. On a Non-GAAP basis, its earnings would have been $1.01 thus beating the estimates of $0.99 a share while missing revenue expectations of $31.09 billion.

In the previous year quarter, Verizon earned a profit of $4.17 billion, or $0.99 a share, on revenue of $33.16 billion.

The company added 442,000 retail postpaid net additions that included 357,000 new 4G LTE smartphones. In the wireline segment, the company added 90,000 Fios Internet net additions and 36,000 Fios Video net additions.

Equities Trading UP

DragonWave, Inc.(USA) DRWI shares shot up 94 percent to $4.28 after the company announced a deal with Sprint Corp S. DragonWave said Sprint has opted for its microwave backhaul equipment as part of maximization and densification strategy. The telecom firm has opted to deploy networking equipment to enhance the performance and the customer experience.

Shares of American Express Company AXP got a boost, shooting up 10 percent to $67.58 after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter and raised its 2016 forecast.

SunCoke Energy Inc SXC shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $9.00. SunCoke posted Q3 net earnings of $0.10 per share on revenue of $293.9 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. RIGL shares dropped 22 percent to $2.52 after the company reported results from the second FIT Phase 3 study for fostamatinib. The company disclosed that the study did not meet primary endpoint.

Shares of DXP Enterprises Inc DXPE were down 17 percent to $24.00. DXP Enterprises reported preliminary revenue of $228 million to $231 million for the third quarter.

Syntel, Inc. SYNT was down, falling around 15 percent to $22.50. Syntel reported Q3 GAAP loss of $2.58 per share on revenue of $241 million. Syntel projects FY16 loss of $0.75 to $0.65 per share, on revenue of $960 million to $970 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.57 percent to $50.49 while gold traded down 0.22 percent to $1,267.10.

Silver traded down 0.75 percent Thursday to $17.53, while copper fell 0.40 percent to $2.10.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.19 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.24 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.57 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.52 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.44 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.07 percent.

Economics

Initial jobless claims rose 13,000 to 260,000 in the latest week. However, economists were expecting claims to reach 250,000 in the week.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index declined to 9.7 in October, compared to 12.8 in September. Economists projected a reading of 5.30 for the month.

Existing home sales rose 3.2 percent in September to an annual rate of 5.47 million. However, economists were expecting a 0.4 percent growth in September.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.2 percent for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent growth.

Supplies of natural gas increased 77 billion cubic feet for the week ended October14, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a rise of 72 billion cubic-foot.

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

New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley is set to speak in New York at 4:45 p.m. ET.