Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Boeing Beats Q3 Estimates

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.46 percent to 18,086.20 while the NASDAQ declined 0.59 percent to 5,252.03. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.44 percent to 2,133.69.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained by 0.04 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Strayer Education Inc STRA, and Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. TR.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 1.06 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Southwestern Energy Company SWN, down 3 percent, and Enerplus Corp (USA) ERF, down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Boeing Co BA delivered better than expected results for the third quarter.

The company reported 39 percent jump in core EPS to $3.51, topping estimates by $0.89 per share. Its revenue dropped 8 percent to $23.898 billion, beating expectations by $0.258 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Socket Mobile, Inc. SCKT shares shot up 19 percent to $3.35. Socket Mobile reported Q3 earnings of $0.11 per share on revenue of $5.1 million.

Shares of Logitech International SA (USA) LOGI got a boost, shooting up 20 percent to $25.76 on upbeat quarterly results.

Akamai Technologies, Inc. AKAM shares were also up, gaining 14 percent to $67.52 after the company posted upbeat quarterly results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Rocket Fuel Inc FUEL shares dropped 15 percent to $2.45. Rocket Fuel reported Q3 non-GAAP loss of $0.08 per share on revenue of $62.6 million. The company named Stephen Snyder as CFO.

Shares of Diplomat Pharmacy Inc DPLO were down 15 percent to $24.59. Diplomat Pharmacy named Paul Urick as President, while Gary Kadlec will retire on December 31, 2016. The company also disclosed that Sean Whelan will step down as CFO.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp EW was down, falling around 13 percent to $99.08 on weak sales for the third quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.88 percent to $49.02 while gold traded down 0.03 percent to $1,273.20.

Silver traded down 0.37 percent Wednesday to $17.72, while copper rose 0.28 percent to $2.14.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.91 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.09 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.30 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 1.00 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.65 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.34 percent.

Economics

New home sales rose 3.1 percent to an annual rate of 593,000 in September.

The Markit services PMI rose to 54.80 in October, versus a prior reading of 52.30. Economists expected a reading of 52.30.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury will also auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.