Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Seagate Climbs On Strong Q2 Results; Meridian Bioscience Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.74 percent to 20,060.95 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.86 percent to 5,649.02. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.72 percent to 2,296.57.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares gained around 1.07 percent in trading on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included United Community Financial Corp UCFC, and MarketAxess Holdings Inc. MKTX.

In trading on Wednesday, telecommunications services shares slipped by 0.18 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included J2 Global Inc JCOM, down 3 percent, and PLDT Inc (ADR) PHI, down 3 percent.

Top Headline

Boeing Co BA reported better-than-expected results for its latest quarter, but issued a weak sales forecast.

Boeing’s quarterly earnings increased to $1.63 billion, or $2.59 per share, compared to $1.03 billion, or $1.51 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding non-recurring items, the company’s adjusted earnings came in at $2.47 per share.

Its revenue declined 1 percent to $23.29 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $2.34 per share on revenue of $23.13 billion.

For 2017, Boeing projects adjusted earnings of $9.10 to $9.30 per share, on revenue of $90.5 billion to $92.5 billion. Analysts projected earnings of $9.25 per share on revenue of $92.96 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Arctic Cat Inc ACAT shares shot up 42 percent to $18.54 after the company agreed to be acquired by Textron Inc. TXT in a $247 million all-cash deal.

Shares of Bob Evans Farms Inc BOBE got a boost, shooting up 20 percent to $57.72 after the company agreed to sell its restaurants unit to Golden Gate Capital for $565 million. The company also plans to acquire Pineland Farms Potato Company for $115 million.

Seagate Technology PLC STX shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $43.28 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and issued a strong revenue outlook for the current quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Meridian Bioscience, Inc. VIVO shares dropped 21 percent to $13.05 after the company reported weak Q1 results and lowered its FY17 guidance. The company also reduced its quarterly dividend to $0.125 per share.

Shares of Horizon Global Corp HZN were down around 10 percent to $18.88. Horizon Global reported proposed offerings of common stock and convertible senior notes and announced preliminary unaudited 2016 financial results.

CommVault Systems, Inc. CVLT was down, falling around 10 percent to $51.17. Commvault reported Q3 adjusted earnings of $0.28 per share on revenue of $165.8 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.77 percent to $52.77 while gold traded down 1.13 percent to $1,199.90.

Silver traded down 1.22 percent Wednesday to $16.98, while copper fell 0.02 percent to $2.71.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 1.29 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.73 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.42 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 1.82 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.99 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.20 percent.

Economics

Crude oil supplies rose 2.84 million barrels for the week ended January 20, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts were expecting a gain of 2.81 million barrels.