Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Fed Raises Benchmark Interest Rate; Crude Oil Down Over 2%

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.06 percent to 19,899.96 while the NASDAQ fell 0.27 percent to 5,449.21. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.24 percent to 2,266.35.

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained around 0.37 percent in trading on Wednesday. In trading on Wednesday, energy shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.48 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included

, down 13 percent, and

, down 12 percent.

reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Tuesday. Nordson reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $1.39 per share on revenue of $ $509.3 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.24 per share on revenue of $482 million.

shares shot up 67 percent to $4.35. Vericel is currently developing MACI, a third-generation autologous chondrocyte implant and ixmyelocel-T, which is a patient-specific multicellular therapy. On Tuesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it has approved Maci, which marks the first FRDA-approved product that applies the process of tissue engineering to grow cells on scaffolds using healthy cartilage tissue from the patient's own knee. Shares of

got a boost, shooting up 20 percent to $33.15 as the company agreed to be acquired for $33.50 per share in cash by a private investment group led by Golden Gate Capital.

shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $7.23 on supply & services agreement with

.

shares dropped 15 percent to $2.12. JMP Securities, Raymond James and Cowen downgraded Proteon Therapeutics to Market Perform. On Tuesday, Proteon Therapeutics disclosed that it did not meet primary endpoint in PATENCY-1 trial. Shares of

were down 20 percent to $7.64. FBR Capital downgraded First NBC Bank from Market Perform to Underperform.

was down, falling around 12 percent to $4.66. Crossroads Systems reported a Q4 loss of $0.20 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.03 per share.

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.06 percent to $52.83 while gold traded up 0.36 percent to $1,163.20. Silver traded up 1.34 percent Wednesday to $17.21, while copper rose 0.23 percent to $2.60.

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 slipped 0.50 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.21 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 1.18 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.35 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.72 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.28 percent.

The MBA's index of mortgage application activity dropped 4 percent for the latest week. The producer-price index increased 0.4 percent in November, beating economists' estimates for 0.1 percent growth. U.S. retail sales rose 0.1 percent in November, versus economists' expectations for a 0.3 percent growth. U.S. industrial production declined 0.4 percent in November, versus economists' expectations for a 0.2 percent drop. U.S. business inventories declined 0.20 percent for October, versus economists' expectations for a 0.10 percent drop. Crude supplies dropped 2.56 million barrels for the week ended December 9, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts were expecting a drop of 1.47 million barrels. Gasoline supplies increased 500,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 760,000 barrels. The Federal Reserve lifted its benchmark interest rate to a range of 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent, from 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent. Fed also sees three rate hikes in 2017.