Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Deere Misses Q4 Expectations

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.43 percent to 24,570.44 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.99 percent to 6,976.90. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.60 percent to 2,657.75.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the consumer discretionary shares climbed 1.7 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Baozun Inc. BZUN up 19 percent, and Foot Locker, Inc. FL up 18 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 0.5 percent.

Top Headline

Deere & Company DE reported weaker-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Deere posted quarterly earnings of $2.30 per share on revenue of $8.34 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $2.45 per share on revenue of $8.58 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Ability Inc ABIL shares got a boost, shooting up 57 percent to $4.42 after the company announced the acquisition of a company which supplies and develops licenses Ultimate Interception for $1 million.

Shares of Baozun Inc BZUN shot up 17 percent to $35.34 after announcing better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

Foot Locker, Inc. FL shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $53.96 after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its third quarter on Tuesday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Heat Biologics Inc HTBX shares dropped 31 percent to $1.41 after reporting an offering of common shares and warrants.

Shares of China Rapid Finance Ltd - ADR XRF were down 10 percent to $1.95. China Rapid Finance reported a Q3 loss of $0.17 per share on sales of $17.567 million.

Sphere 3D Corp ANY was down, falling around 27 percent to $4.85 after jumping 144.81 percent on Tuesday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.1 percent to $54.55 while gold traded up 0.26 percent to $1,224.40.

Silver traded up 1.02 percent Wednesday to $14.415, while copper rose 0.67 percent to $2.795.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.49 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 0.66 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 0.85 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.73 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.34 percent while U.K. shares rose 1 percent.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders fell 4.4 percent for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 2.2 percent decline.

U.S. initial jobless claims rose 3,000 to 224,000 for the latest week. However, economists projected a 215,000 reading.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index declined to 97.5 for November, versus a prior reading of 98.6.

U.S. existing home sales rose 1.4 percent at an annual rate of 5.22 million for October.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.1 percent for October.

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

The EIA’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.