Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 2.7%; vTv Therapeutics Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.77 percent to 25,598.98 while the NASDAQ declined 0.51 percent to 7,606.85. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.57 percent to 2,793.91.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Wednesday, the communication services shares rose by 0.05 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included QuinStreet, Inc. QNST up 8 percent, and Netflix, Inc. NFLX up 6 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer discretionary shares fell 1.16 percent.

Top Headline

Abbott Laboratories ABT reported in-line earnings for its third quarter.

Abbott posted quarterly earnings of $0.75 per share on revenue of $7.66 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.75 per share on sales of $7.65 billion. Abbott narrowed its FY18 adjusted earnings guidance from $2.85-$2.91 per share to $2.87-$2.89 per share.

Equities Trading UP

vTv Therapeutics Inc VTVT shares shot up 41 percent to $4.021. The company is engaged in the research and development of treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes. This week, it announced the delivery of an oral presentation at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease in Barcelona, Spain later this month. The oral presentation intends to detail the results from the Phase 3 study of azeliragon in patients with mild Alzheimer’s. Additionally, a subgroup analysis from the STEADFAST trial will be presented, to discuss the missing link between diabetes and dementia.

Shares of Vicor Corporation VICR got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $45.64 following Q3 earnings. The company reported a strong increase in both EPS and sales from last year.

Yulong Eco-Materials Limited YECO shares were also up, gaining 163 percent to $4.00 after the company earlier announced it is in the process of a sale and spin off of its China businesses in order to focus on its newly-acquired Millennium Sapphire business.

Equities Trading DOWN

Revolution Lighting Technologies, Inc. RVLT shares dropped 36 percent to $1.64 after the company cut FY18 and Q3 guidance estimates and said it does not believe it is in the best interest of shareholders to continue as a publicly traded company, proposed to take company private.

Shares of Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. RNN were down 29 percent to $1.18 after the company earlier reported a $7.5 million registered direct offering.

Smart Sand, Inc. SND was down, falling around 19 percent to $3.09. Jefferies downgraded Smart Sand from Hold to Underperform.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.7 percent to $69.98 while gold traded down 0.09 percent to $1,229.90.

Silver traded down 0.18 percent Wednesday to $14.675, while copper fell 0.49 to $2.766.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.62 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.98 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 1.42 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.76 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.86 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.36 percent.

Economics

U.S. housing starts dropped 5.3 percent to an annual rate of 1.201 million in September. However, economists expected a 1.22 million pace.

Domestic crude supplies climbed 6.49 million barrels for the week ended October 12, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 1.07 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles slipped 2.02 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell 827,000 barrels last week.

The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.