Thursday's trading ended relatively flat across the board, although energy companies, including many on Real Money's "Stessed Out" index, were big winners.
The S&P 500 gained 0.35%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.26%, and the Nasdaq added 0.09%.
Even though the price of crude only posted a modest gain Thursday, closing at $34.71 a barrel, energy companies were the biggest gainers on the S&P 500. Chesapeake Energy (CHK) closed up 25%, while Southwestern Energy (SWN) increased 18%. Earlier Thursday, Real Money looked at the intraday rally among "Stressed Out" energy companies.
Shares of Smith & Wesson Holding (SWHC) were briefly halted after climbing 8% in after-hours trading as the Massachusetts-based firearms manufacturer's fiscal third-quarter earnings blew past analyst estimates. The company reported earnings of $0.59 a share on revenue of $211 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.39 a share on $175 million in revenue. Shares of the company rose 76% over the past year.
"The combined strength of our firearms and accessories businesses delivered an exceptional performance, driven by healthy consumer demand across our growing portfolio of firearm and outdoor lifestyle offerings," CEO James Debney said in Thursday's earnings release.
Elsewhere, shares of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) rose 7% in after-hours trading as the company reported fiscal first-quarter earnings of $0.41 a share on revenue of $12.7 billion, in line with analyst expectations of $0.40 a share on $12.6 billion in revenue. It was the first time the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company reported earnings since splitting from Hewlett Packard in November.
Shares of Peabody Energy (BTU) closed up 33% to $3.24 in Thursday's trading. Despite the recent gain, the company has faced trouble in recent weeks. On Thursday, The Deal reported that one of the Missouri-based coal producer's planned asset sales was in jeopardy as the purchaser has faced difficulty securing financing. Proceeds of the sale are crucial to Peabody remaining in compliance with its debt covenants, The Deal reported.
On Friday morning, Real Money will bring readers its "rapid reaction" to February's jobs data, to be released by the Labor Department at 8:30 a.m. ET. Consensus estimates suggest that 195,000 jobs were added in February. Last month's employment report showed 151,000 jobs added in January.
