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CFRA upgraded the stock of Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. to hold from sell on Thursday, and raised its 12-month price target by $7 to $34.”We raise our opinion given recent positive sales trends reported by some footwear and apparel brands sold at DKS,” analyst Victor Ahluwalia wrote in a note. “Longer term, we remain concerned around margin pressure given Dick’s price match guarantee, e-commerce currently being margin dilutive and the viability of private label.” Earlier, Dick’s said it is raising its quarterly dividend by 32% to 22.5 cents a share from 17 cents a share. The new dividend will be payable on March 30 to shareholders of record as of March 9. Shares were trading down 0.9%, and are down 33% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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Shares of Alaska Air Group Inc. slumped 2.2% in midday trade Thursday, after the air carrier reported January operational results, and after a downgrade at UBS. The Seattle-based carrier earlier that January load factor declined to 75.8% from 78.1% a year ago, as the 6.6% growth in capacity outpaced the 3.5% increase in traffic. For its mainline operations, which are operated by Alaska Airlines Inc. and Virgin America Inc., load factor fell 2.1 percentage points to 76.4%. For its regional operations, operated by Horizon Air Industries Inc., load factor declined 4.1 percentage points to 70.1%. Separately, UBS analyst Darryl Genovesi cut his rating to neutral from buy, and his stock price target to $70 from $77, citing concerns over competition for Seattle as a hub. The stock has gained 1.4% over the past three months, while the NYSE Arca Airline Index has gained 3.9%, the Dow Jones Transportation Average has run up 10.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed 7.3%.

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Shares of Moleculin Biotech Inc. rocketed 54% in active morning trade Thursday, enough to make them the biggest percentage gainer on major U.S. exchanges, after the company announced a “breakthrough discovery” of a new molecule for cancer treatment. Volume was 20.9 million shares, compared with the full-day average of about 215,000 shares. Based on preclinical testing, the company said in a statement that, pursuant to its continued collaboration with the University of Texas’s MD Anderson Cancer Center, it has developed and licensed what it believes “is a major breakthrough in its effort to develop a new cancer treatment that selectively kills highly resistant tumors.” The stock has now more than doubled over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 15%.

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The S&P energy sector fell on Thursday, bucking the advance of the broader market as crude-oil prices fell. The Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF , the most widely used exchange-traded fund to track the sector, fell 0.8%, extending its recent decline. The ETF is down 9.3% thus far this month, the biggest loser among SPDR sector funds. Over the past 12 month, the sector is down 7.4%, which also stands as the worst 12-month performance among the primary S&P 500 sectors. Crude oil prices were down 0.7%, while Brent crude lost 1.7%. Among specific sub-sectors of the energy industry, oil and gas equipment companies led the decline. The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF fell 1.9%, with nearly all the fund’s components in lower territory. Among the most notable decliners, Helmerich & Payne Inc. fell 2.3% while Nabors Industries Ltd. was down 4.1% and Halliburton Co. was down 2.1%. Separately, the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF fell 1.4%. Marathon Oil Corp. fell 6.7% while Newfield Exploration Co. slid 5.1%.

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday called the shooting in the Florida high school a “tragedy” and urged Congress to “look at these issues.” In testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee, Mnuchin said he had no proposals to make, saying gun violence was “out of my lane.” He told Rep. John Lewis, a Democrat from Georgia, that he would speak to President Donald Trump and other cabinet members about concerns expressed by committee Democrats about gun violence.

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Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s stock shot up 4.1% toward an 18-month high in morning trade Thursday, after Morgan Stanley turned bullish on the drugmaker, for the first time in 18 months, citing “compelling” immuno-oncology growth prospects. Analyst David Risinger raised his rating to overweight, after being at equal weight since Aug. 5, 2016, and boosted his stock price target to $78 from $63. Risinger said after he “dug deeper” into the company’s release of the phase 3 Checkmate-227 study of Opdivo plus Yervoy combination versus chemotherapy, his investment thesis has changed: “We have greater confidence that Bristol’s Opdivo + Yervoy combination regimen can play a meaningful role in first-line lung cancer, which is the largest cancer market.” The stock was on track to close at the highest level since Aug. 4, 2016. It has now run up 11.5% over the past three months, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF has gained 4.3% and the S&P 500 has climbed 5.6%.

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Exchange-traded funds that track emerging-market equities rallied on Thursday, extending their recent gains and putting them on track for their best weekly performance in more than a year. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF rose 1.6% on Thursday, putting it on track for its fifth straight daily gain and bringing its weekly advance to 6.5%. That represents its biggest one-week percentage rise since March 2016. Separately, the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF rose 1.5% on Thursday, also set to extend its daily streak of gains to five. The fund is up 5.9% thus far this week, which is set to be its biggest one-week percentage gain since a week ending July 2016. If the ETF ends higher on the week, that will mark its ninth weekly advance of the past 11 weeks. The funds were supported by large-capitalization technology companies, many of which represent some of the largest components of the emerging-market ETFs. Baidu Inc. rallied 3.9%, bringing its week-to-date advance to 13.7%, while Sina Corp. was up 2.5%. It is up 15.5% on the week. Also on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% while the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.8%.

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Federal regulators on Thursday hit U.S. Bancorp, the nation’s biggest regional bank, with more than $800 million in fines for deficient anti-money laundering practices. The Justice Department announced a deferred prosecution with U.S. Bancorp related to the Bank Secrecy Act. Separately, the Federal Reserve ordered the Minneapolis-based bank to improve compliance with anti-money laundering laws.

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The Cboe Volatility index slumped on Thursday, dropping for a fifth session amid an ongoing recovery in the U.S. equity market. The VIX is down 37% thus far this week, putting it on track for its biggest one-week percentage decline since July 2016. Despite the decline, the so-called “fear index” remains up more than 60% thus far in 2018, having more than doubled over the previous two weeks as investors grew concerned over the prospect of inflation returning to the economy, and the Federal Reserve having to become more aggressive in raising interest rates to combat the trend. As those concerns have ebbed, however, stocks have risen and the VIX has retreated, returning below its long-term average of 20 on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% on Thursday, while the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.7%. Both the Dow and the S&P are up about 3.4% on the week while the Nasdaq has jumped 4.6% in its biggest one-week gain since 2014.

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