Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Gains 160 Points; Akari Therapeutics Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.70 percent to 23,158.02 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.15 percent to 6,633.65. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.16 percent to 2,563.49.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the financial shares surged 0.44 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Assurant, Inc. AIZ, up 6 percent, and Community Trust Bancorp, Inc. CTBI, up 6 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, basic materials shares fell 0.60 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included KMG Chemicals, Inc. KMG, down 6 percent, and Fibria Celulose SA (ADR) FBR down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Abbott Laboratories ABT posted better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

Abbott posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.66 per share on revenue of $6.8 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $0.65 per share on revenue of $6.72 billion.

Abbott narrowed FY17 adjusted earnings outlook from $2.43 to $2.53 per share, to $2.48-$2.50 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SPPI shares shot up 47 percent to $21.27. Buyers are flocking to the stock after the company's oral presentation of data from a Phase 2 clinical study evaluating Poziotinib for the treatment of lung cancer while presenting at the 18th IASLC World Conference in Japan.

Shares of Krystal Biotech Inc KRYS got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $11.38. Ladenburg Thalmann initiated coverage on Krystal Biotech with a Buy rating and a $23.00 price target.

Viveve Medical Inc VIVE shares were also up, gaining 14 percent to $5.49 as the company issued a strong sales forecast for the third quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Akari Therapeutics PLC (ADR) AKTX shares dropped 27 percent to $4.69 following news of a common stock offering.

Shares of Social Reality Inc SRAX were down 23 percent to $3.75. Social Reality shares surged 70.73 percent on Tuesday after the announcement of its own Initial Coin Offering: BIGtoken.

Mobileiron Inc MOBL was down, falling around 10 percent to $3.42 after the company issued weak sales forecast and disclosed that CEO Barry Mainz was leaving the company.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.35 percent to $52.06 while gold traded down 0.26 percent to $1,282.80.

Silver traded down 0.21 percent Wednesday to $17.005, while copper fell 0.63 percent to $3.1755.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.29 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.55 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.08 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.37 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.42 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.36 percent.

Economics

U.S. housing starts dropped 4.7 percent at an annual rate of 1.13 million in September. Economists expected a rate of 1.18 million.

Domestic crude supplies declined 5.7 million barrels for the week ended October 13, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analsyts projected a fall of 3.9 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles rose 900,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles gained 500,000 barrels for the week.

The Federal Reserve released its latest Beige Book report.