U.S. stocks were in positive territory on Thursday; at the time, the European Central Bank announced that it will end its $3 trillion bond-buying program. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained more than 150 points to 24,677, the S&P 500 index gained 0.48% to 2,664, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.46% to 7,130.
Shares of Oxford Industries Inc. (OXM, Financial) fell 15% on Thursday, after the company posted third-quarter earnings of 14 cents per share, on revenue of $233.66 million, reflecting a 1.0% year-over-year decline. The company fell short of earnings expectations by 3 cents and revenues estimations by $8.79 million.
The gross profit rose to $129.3 million, higher when compared to the $125.2 million in the same quarter of the prior year, or 55.3% compared to 53.0% in the third quarter of fiscal 2017. Adjusted gross margin reached 55.3% from 53.7% in the same trimester of the prior year.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, the company expects net sales between $297 million and $307 million and earnings per share in a range of 94 cents to $1.09.
Gainers
• General Electric Co. (GE, Financial)
• Cigna Corp. (CI, Financial)
• NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA, Financial)
• Procter & Gamble Co. (PG, Financial)
• Caterpillar Inc. (CAT, Financial)
Losers
• Under Armour Inc. (UA, Financial)
• Apache Corp. (APA, Financial)
• Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY, Financial)
• National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV, Financial)
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded higher. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.02%, France's CAC 40 jumped 0.01%, Germany's Dax gained 0.23% and Spain's Ibex 35 advanced 1.21%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.99%, India’s BSE Sensex jumped 0.42%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.29% and China's Shanghai Composite rose 1.23%.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
