Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Jumps Over 200 Points; Fossil Group Shares Climb On Upbeat Earnings

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.88 percent to 24,856.27 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.67 percent to 7,130.36. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.23 percent to 2,695.60.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the basic materials shares climbed 2.38 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Harmony Gold Mining Co. (ADR) HMY, up 11 percent, and Seabridge Gold, Inc. (USA) SA, up 11 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares tumbled 0.21 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Southwest Gas Holdings Inc SWX, down 1 percent, and TransAlta Corporation (USA) TAC down 1 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 76 percent to $15.93 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Shares of Twilio Inc TWLO got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $31.47 after the company posted upbeat quarterly results.

Layne Christensen Company LAYN shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $15.16. Granite Construction Inc. GVA announced plans to acquire Layne Christensen for $17 per share in stock.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc TTPH shares dropped 59 percent to $2.21 following negative trial results for Eravacycline. BMO Capital downgraded Tetraphase Pharmaceutical from Outperform to Market Perform.

Shares of Avinger Inc AVGR were down 40 percent to $1.62. Avinger priced its Series B convertible preferred stock for $18 million in gross proceeds.

Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd GLMD was down, falling around 53 percent to $4.42 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 up 2.79 percent to $60.84 while gold traded up 1.86 percent to $1,355.10.

Silver traded up 1.86 percent Wednesday to $16.835, while copper rose 2.15 percent to $3.2305.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 1.07 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.37 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 1.81 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.95 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.22 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.75 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.

U.S. crude oil inventories gained 1.84 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a rise of 2.83 million barrels.