Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 3%; Proteon Therapeutics Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.08 percent to 20,959.85 while the NASDAQ declined 0.12 percent to 6,113.15. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.02 percent to 2,397.31.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy sector was the top gainer in the US market on Wednesday. Top gainers in the sector included TETRA Technologies, Inc. TTI, Approach Resources Inc. AREX, and Atwood Oceanics, Inc. ATW.

In trading on Wednesday, healthcare shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.32 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. ACAD, down 12 percent, and HMS Holdings Corp HMSY, down 10 percent.

Top Headline

NVIDIA Corporation NVDA reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter and issued a strong sales forecast for the current quarter on Tuesday.

NVIDIA said it earned $0.85 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $1.94 billion; Analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.67 per share on revenue of $1.91 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Medical Transcription Billing Corp MTBC shares shot up 54 percent to $3.02. MTBC reported Q1 adjusted loss of $0.08 per share on revenue of $8.2 million.

Shares of Proteon Therapeutics Inc PRTO got a boost, shooting up 31 percent to $1.77 after the company disclosed that it has received the FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation for Vonapanitase. Proteon Therapeutics posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss.

Array Biopharma Inc ARRY shares were also up, gaining 24 percent to $8.70 after the company reported positive top-line results from part 2 of Phase 3 study of binimetinib and encorafenib. Array BioPharma reported a Q3 loss of $0.21 per share on revenue of $33.3 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Rocket Fuel Inc FUEL shares dropped 33 percent to $3.32. Rocket Fuel reported a Q1 loss of $22.5 million on revenue of $95.2 million. Credit Suisse downgraded Rocket Fuel from Outperform to Neutral.

Shares of Concordia International Corp CXRX were down around 24 percent to $1.58. Concordia posted a quarterly net loss from continuing operations of $78.8 million, and total revenue of $160.6 million.

Fossil Group Inc FOSL was down, falling around 22 percent to $14.19 after the company posted downbeat quarterly results and issued a weak outlook for the second quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 3 percent to $47.25 while gold traded up 0.44 percent to $1,221.40.

Silver traded up 0.70 percent Wednesday to $16.18, while copper rose 0.06 percent to $2.4995.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.06 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.26 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.20 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.06 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.09 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.60 percent.

Economics

Import prices rose 0.5 percent in Aril, versus a 0.1 percent revised growth in March. Export prices increased 0.2 percent for April, following a revised 0.1 percent growth in March. Economists were expecting a 0.2 percent gain in import prices and a 0.1 percent growth in export prices.

Crude supplies declined 5.25 million barrels for the week ended May 5, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a drop of 1.79 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles slipped 150,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles declined 1.59 million barrels last week.

Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren is set to speak in South Burlington, VT at 12:30 p.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in Minneapolis, MN at 1:20 p.m. ET.

The Treasury budget data for April is schedule for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.