Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Disney Earnings Beat Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.27 percent to 22,025.98 while the NASDAQ declined 0.64 percent to 6,329.99. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.36 percent to 2,465.97.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market.

In trading on Wednesday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.89 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Vitamin Shoppe Inc VSI, down 27 percent, and Fossil Group Inc FOSL, down 24 percent.

Top Headline

Walt Disney Co DIS reported a third-quarter earnings beat after Tuesday's close, but missed on sales estimates.

Disney announced it was buying a majority $1.58 billion stake in BAMTech, the MLB Advanced Media service it initially took a $1 billion stake in last year. In 2018, Disney will also launch its own ESPN streaming service powered by BAMTech, which could help curb fears that cord-cutting would be the ultimate demise of the sports news leader.

Equities Trading UP

Supreme Industries, Inc. STS shares shot up 35 percent to $20.94. Wabash National Corporation WNC announced plans to acquire Supreme Industries for $21.00 per share.

Shares of Gravity Co., LTD. (ADR) GRVY got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $17.5785. Gravity posted Q2 earnings of $0.90 per share on sales of $23.63 million.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ACHN shares were also up, gaining 31 percent to $5.24 after the company posted in-line Q2 loss.

Equities Trading DOWN

Surgery Partners Inc SGRY shares dropped 47 percent to $10.20. Surgery Partners reported a Q2 loss of $0.09 per share on revenue of $288.4 million. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Surgery Partners from Hold to Sell, while Raymond James downgraded the stock from Strong Buy to Market Perform.

Shares of Fossil Group Inc FOSL were down 25 percent to $8.93 after the company posted a loss for the second quarter and announced the resignation of its CFO Dennis Scor.

Vitamin Shoppe Inc VSI was down, falling around 28 percent to $6.90 as the company posted downbeat quarterly results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.71 percent to $49.52 while gold traded up 1.27 percent to $1,278.60.

Silver traded up 2.60 percent Wednesday to $16.815, while copper rose 0.03 percent to $2.9435.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.57 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.15 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.70 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dipped 1.03 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 1.32 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.57 percent.

Economics

The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity rose 3 percent for the latest week.

Productivity increased at an annual rate of 0.9 percent for the second quarter, while unit labor costs rose at a rate of 0.6 percent in the second quarter. Economists were projecting a 0.7 percent growth in productivity and a 1.2 percent gain in unit labor costs.

U.S. wholesale inventories rose 0.70 percent for June, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.60 percent growth.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans is set to speak in Chicago at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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