Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; General Mills Earnings Miss Estimates

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.03 percent to 22,365.17 while the NASDAQ declined 0.09 percent to 6,455.31. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.03 percent to 2,505.88.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the energy shares surged 0.55 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Contango Oil & Gas Company MCF, up 8 percent, and Bristow Group Inc BRS, up 6 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, technology shares fell 0.27 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included MakeMyTrip Limited MMYT, down 7 percent, and Western Digital Corp WDC down 5 percent.

Top Headline

General Mills, Inc. GIS reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

General Mills posted Q1 adjusted earnings of $0.71 per share on revenue of $3.77 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.76 per share on sales of $3.79 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALNY shares shot up 37 percent to $102.70 following positive APOLLO 3 results.

Shares of Trio-Tech International TRT got a boost, shooting up 5 percent to $4.85. Trio-Tech reported Q4 earnings of $0.09 per share on sales of $10.638 million.

Gemphire Therapeutics Inc GEMP shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $10.82 after the company reported plans to advance gemcabene into Phase 3 development.

Equities Trading DOWN

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. BBBY shares dropped 16 percent to $22.76 as the company reported downbeat earnings for its third quarter.

Shares of Maxwell Technologies Inc. MXWL were down 15 percent to $5.36. Maxwell reported amended terms for deal with Viex Capital and announced a proposed offering of $50 million convertible senior notes due 2022.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc IOVA was down, falling around 10 percent to $7.70. Iovance Biotherapeutics reported a $50 million offering of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.07 percent to $50.01 while gold traded up 0.54 percent to $1,317.60.

Silver traded up 0.58 percent Wednesday to $17.38, while copper rose 0.40 percent to $2.9815.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.11 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.21 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.22 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.13 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.10 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.01 percent.

Economics

The MBA's index of mortgage application activity rose 9.7 percent for the latest week.

Existing home sales declined 1.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.35 million in August. However, economists were expecting a 5.46 million rate.

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

The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The Fed Chair Janet Yellen will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.