Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; Groupon Profit Misses Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.40 percent to 24,542.54 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.02 percent to 7,014.96. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.27 percent to 2,655.86.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the basic materials shares climbed 0.04 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Harmony Gold Mining Co. (ADR) HMY, up 8 percent, and Seabridge Gold, Inc. (USA) SA, up 6 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares tumbled 0.80 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included TransAlta Corporation (USA) TAC, down 2 percent, and Companhia Energetica de Minas Gers CEMIG CIG down 2 percent.

Top Headline

Groupon Inc GRPN reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

The company said it earned $0.07 per share on revenue of $873.16 million in the fourth quarter. However, Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.09 per share on revenue of $852 million.

Groupon expects FY18 adjusted EBITDA of $260 million to $270 million.

Equities Trading UP

Fossil Group Inc FOSL shares shot up 75 percent to $15.80 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Shares of InspireMD Inc NSPR got a boost, shooting up 23 percent to $6.20. InspireMD reported a Q4 loss of $7.38 per share on sales of $833,000.

Infinity Property and Casualty Corp. IPCC shares were also up, gaining 18 percent to $113.25 after Kemper Corp KMPR announced plans to buy the company for $129 per share. Infinity Property and Casualty reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $1.32 per share on revenue of $382.6 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc TTPH shares dropped 55 percent to $2.44 following negative trial results for Eravacycline. BMO Capital downgraded Tetraphase Pharmaceutical from Outperform to Market Perform.

Shares of Avinger Inc AVGR were down 37 percent to $1.69. Avinger priced its Series B convertible preferred stock for $18 million in gross proceeds.

Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd GLMD was down, falling around 55 percent to $4.23 after the company disclosed that its top line data from the ARRIVE study did not meet its primary endpoint. Maxim Group downgraded Galmed Pharmaceuticals from Buy to Hold.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.90 percent to $58.66 while gold traded up 0.26 percent to $1,333.80.

Silver traded up 0.13 percent Wednesday to $16.55, while copper rose 0.01 percent to $3.1625.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.76 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.65 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 0.70 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.59 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.79 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.67 percent.

Economics

The MBA's index of mortgage application activity dropped 4.1 percent for the latest week.

U.S. retail sales declined 0.3 percent for January, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent gain.

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.5 percent for January, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent growth.

U.S. business inventories gained 0.4 percent for December, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 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.