Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down 1.5%; Merus Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.05 percent to 19,963.94 while the NASDAQ declined 0.08 percent to 5,479.51. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.10 percent to 2,268.60.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained around 0.52 percent in trading on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, industrial shares slipped by 0.27 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Lindsay Corporation LNN, down 11 percent, and KEYW Holding Corp. KEYW, down 7 percent.

Top Headline

Finish Line Inc FINL reported weaker-than-expected results for its fiscal third quarter and issued a downbeat forecast.

Finish Line said it lost $0.24 per share in the third quarter on revenue of $371.7 million. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to lose just $0.18 per share on revenue of $411 million.

For the full fiscal year ending February 25, 2017, Finish Line expects its comparable store sales to be as high as 1 percent and as low as flat. The company also expects to earn between $0.68 and $0.73 per share which is below Wall Street's expectations of $0.95 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Merus NV MRUS shares shot up 37 percent to $20.60. Incyte Corporation INCY and Merus announced a global strategic research collaboration to discover and develop bispecific antibodies.

Shares of Internap Corp INAP got a boost, shooting up 45 percent to $1.64. Internap reported the completion of the initial round of cost cuts. The company expects FY16 revenue of $297 million to $300 million. It also projects FY17 to decrease to $275 million to $285 million.

Calithera Biosciences Inc CALA shares were also up, gaining 19 percent to $3.62. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co BMY and Calithera Biosciences disclosed a clinical collaboration to evaluate Opdivo in combination with CB-839 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Equities Trading DOWN

xG Technology Inc XGTI shares dropped 56 percent to $1.61 after the company reported the pricing of its $10 million offering.

Shares of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc MACK were down 17 percent to $4.43 after the company announced that it will stop a Phase 2 study of its treatment to fight breast cancer.

Finish Line Inc FINL was down, falling around 10 percent to $20.62 after the company reported weaker-than-expected results for its fiscal third quarter and issued a downbeat forecast.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.5 percent to $52.50 while gold traded down 0.04 percent to $1,133.10.

Silver traded down 0.85 percent Wednesday to $15.98, while copper fell 0.18 percent to $2.50.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.21 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.38 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.16 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.03 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.33 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.04 percent.

Economics

The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity rose 2.5 percent for the latest week.

Existing-home sales rose 0.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.61 million in November, versus a downwardly revised pace of 5.57 million in October. Economists projected a rate of 5.50 million for November.

Crude supplies increased 2.2 million barrels for the week ended December 16, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts were expecting a drop of 2.3 million barrels. Gasoline stocks dropped 1.3 million barrels, while distillates slipped 2.42 million barrels.