Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Fastenal Profit Tops Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.68 percent to 24,750.57 while the NASDAQ declined 0.42 percent to 7,726.49. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.50 percent to 2,779.86.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the utilities shares climbed 0.38 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. - Eletrobras EBR up 3 percent, and AES Corporation AES up 2 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, industrial shares fell 1.23 percent.

Top Headline

Fastenal Company FAST reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter on Wednesday.

Fastenal posted Q2 profit of $0.74 per share on revenue of $1.268 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $0.66 per share on sales of $1.26 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. ACHV shares shot up 36 percent to $4.90 after the company reported advancement of cytisine development program following a meeting with the FDA.

Shares of Myriad Genetics, Inc. MYGN got a boost, shooting up 13 percent to $43.02. Morgan Stanley upgraded Myriad Genetics from Equal-Weight to Overweight and raised the price target from $35 to $55.

Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. AST shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $1.753 after the Safety Review Committee recommended proceeding as planned with AST-VAC2 clinical trials.

Equities Trading DOWN

ReShape Lifesciences Inc. RSLS shares dropped 16 percent to $1.71. ReShape Lifesciences reported a $2.7 million registered direct offering priced at-the-market.

Shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. SLP were down 14 percent to $19.55. Simulations Plus posted Q3 earnings of $0.13 per share on sales of $8.553 million.

AngioDynamics, Inc. ANGO was down, falling around 12 percent to $19.85 after the company posted downbeat Q4 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.08 percent to $73.31 while gold traded down 0.36 percent to $1,250.90.

Silver traded down 0.88 percent Wednesday to $15.945, while copper fell 2.78 to $2.7605.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 tumbled 0.97 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.97 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.22 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 1.06 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.99 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.15 percent.

Economics

The Producer Price Index rose 0.3 percent for June, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent increase.

U.S. wholesale inventories increased 0.6 percent for May, versus economists’ estimates for a 0.5 percent gain.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 4-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET.

New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in Brooklyn, NY at 4:30 p.m. ET.