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

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.30 percent to 17,530.39 while the NASDAQ declined 0.39 percent to 4,802.84. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.35 percent to 2,042.70.

Wednesday morning, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained by 0.02 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included

, up 5 percent, and

, up 2 percent. In trading on Wednesday, basic materials shares dipped by 1.18 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included

, down 9 percent, and

, down 8 percent.

reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter, but the company missed analysts' sales estimates. General Mills posted quarterly earnings of $361.7 million, or $0.59 per share, compared to $343.2 million, or $0.56 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding certain items, the company's adjusted earnings came in at $0.65 per share. Its revenue slipped to $4 billion from $4.35 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.62 per share on revenue of $4.08 billion.

shares shot up 25 percent to $3.16 after the company reported the publication showing CRLX101 localization selectively in human tumors and sparing adjacent healthy tissue. Shares of

got a boost, shooting up 8 percent to $10.82 after the company reported the pricing of a $38.0 million public offering of common stock.

shares were also up, gaining 6 percent to $2.00. Pieris Pharmaceuticals reported a Q4 loss of $0.07 per share on revenue of $2.1 million.

shares dropped 10 percent to $30.15. Kerrisdale Capital stated that in addition to a negative report, SAGE Therapeutics's lead drug candidate "is likely to fail in Phase 3." Shares of

were down 13 percent to $1.21. Eltek reported Q4 earnings of $0.02 per share on revenue of $10.4 million.

was down, falling around 15 percent to $1.27. Axiom's Gordon Johnson maintained a Sell rating on Sunedison, while reducing his price target from $0.39 to $0.22. Stifel Nicolaus terminated Hold rating on SunEdison.

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.21 percent to $40.95, while gold traded down 1.98 percent to $1,225.60. Silver traded down 3.08 percent Wednesday to $15.40, while copper fell 0.55 percent to $2.28.

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.33 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.23 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index fell 0.15 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 0.95 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.35 percent, while U.K. shares rose 0.08 percent.

Sales of new US homes gained 2 percent to an annual pace of 512,000 in February. However, economists were expecting a 510,000 rate.