Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up Over 4%; Acuity Brands Shares Surge On Earnings Beat

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.50 percent to 17,691.08 while the NASDAQ gained 1.37 percent to 4,910.17. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.88 percent to 2,063.22. Leading and Lagging Sectors On Wednesday, healthcare shares gained by 1.82 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX, up 11 percent, and Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc ANAC, up 12 percent. In trading on Wednesday, telecommunications services shares slipped by 0.08 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) TKC, down 2 percent, and Telefonica Brasil SA (ADR) VIV, down 2.5 percent. Top Headline Monsanto Company MON reported weaker-than-expected results for its fiscal second quarter. Monsanto posted quarterly net income of $1.06 billion, or $2.41 per share, compared to $1.43 billion, or $2.92 per share, in the year-ago period. Its earnings per share from ongoing business came in at $2.42. Its total net sales declined 12.8 percent $4.53 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $2.44 per share on revenue of $4.76 billion. Looking forward to the full year fiscal 2016, Monsanto confirmed its fiscal 2016 ongoing earnings per share outlook of $4.40 to $5.10 per share versus Wall Street's expectations of $4.65 per share. Equities Trading UP Momo Inc (ADR) MOMO shares shot up 32 percent to $15.95. Tang Yan reported a 25.9 percent stake in Momo. Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. AYI got a boost, shooting up 11 percent to $249.73 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results. OMNOVA Solutions Inc. OMN shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $5.97 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings. Equities Trading DOWN Cree, Inc. CREE shares dropped 15 percent to $24.61 after the company issued a weak outlook for the third quarter. Shares of Female Health Co FHCO were down 15 percent to $1.46 as the company reported that it has entered into a merger agreement with Aspen Park Pharma. Jernigan Capital Inc JCAP was down, falling around 12 percent to $12.75. Wunderlich downgraded Jernigan Capital from Hold to Sell. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 4.29 percent to $37.43 while gold traded down 0.41 percent to $1,224.60. Silver traded down 0.30 percent Wednesday to $15.07, while copper rose 0.21 percent to $2.14. Eurozone European shares closed higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.76 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.13 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.77 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX surged 0.64 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.81 percent, while U.K. shares rose 1.16 percent. Economics U.S. crude supplies dropped 4.9 million barrels for the week ended April 1, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 2.9 million barrels. The Federal Open Market Committee released minutes of its latest meeting.