Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Juno Therapeutics Rises After ROCKET Phase 2 Rocket Trial Resumption; Avinger Shares Tumble

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.09 percent to 18,365.10 while the NASDAQ declined 0.27 percent to 5,009.10. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01 percent to 2,151.88.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Wednesday, basic materials shares surged by 0.6 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Harmony Gold Mining Co. (ADR) HMY and Gold Fields Limited (ADR) GFI.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 1.01 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc HLX, down 11 percent, and CARBO Ceramics Inc. CRR, down 10 percent.

Top Headline

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. CBSH reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Wednesday.

Commerce Bancshares announced a 6 percent drop in profit for the first quarter as provision for loan lease losses jumped 37 percent. However, its earnings per share topped the Street estimations by $0.02 a share; Revenue, which grew 3.8 percent, fell shy of the expectations.

Equities Trading UP

Juno Therapeutics Inc JUNO shares shot up 12 percent to $31.11 after the company reported that that U.S. Food and Drug Administration removed a clinical hold on the Phase II clinical trial of JCAR015, also known as the "ROCKET" trial.

Shares of Imprivata Inc IMPR got a boost, shooting up 31 percent to $19.01 as the company reached a definitive deal to be bought by an affiliate of Thoma Bravo, LLC, a private equity firm, for $544 million

Ocean Shore Holding Co OSHC shares were also up, gaining 26 percent to $21.40 after OceanFirst Financial Corp. OCFC announced a deal to buy Ocean Shore Holding Co.

Equities Trading DOWN

Avinger Inc AVGR shares dropped 39 percent to $6.93 after the company cut its FY16 sales outlook.

Shares of Bonanza Creek Energy Inc BCEI were down 39 percent to $1.39. Bonanza Creek Energy has retained Perella Weinberg Partners to advise the company and assist in analyzing and evaluating financial and transactional alternatives, including restructuring options.

SemiLEDs Corporation LEDS was down, falling around 17 percent to $6.75 following Q2 earnings report. SemiLEDS reported a Q3 loss of $1.06 per share on revenue of $2.4 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 4.06 percent to $44.90 while gold traded up 0.64 percent to $1,343.90.

Silver traded up 1.23 percent Wednesday to $20.42, while copper rose 1.27 percent to $2.24.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.38 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.13 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1.15 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.33 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.09 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.15 percent.

Economics

The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity for the latest week is scheduled for release at 7:00 a.m. ET.

U.S. import prices rose 0.2 percent for June, while export prices increased 0.8 percent in June.

U.S. crude supplies dropped 2.5 million barrels for the week ended July 8, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a drop of 3.25 million barrels. Gasoline supplies increased 1.2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose 4.1 million barrels last week.

The Federal Reserve released latest Beige Book report.

The U.S. federal government reported a budget surplus of $6 billion in June, versus a surplus of $50 billion in the year-ago month, according to the Treasury Department.

Philadelphia Fed Bank President Patrick Harker is set to speak in Philadelphia at 6:00 p.m. ET.