Mid-Day Market Update: Coherent Jumps On Earnings Beat; Galena Biopharma Shares Plummet

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.20 percent to 20,050.12 while the NASDAQ gained 0.01 percent to 5,674.63. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.03 percent to 2,292.41.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose by 0.64 percent in trading on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PG&E Corporation PCG, and Edison International EIX.

In trading on Wednesday, financial shares dropped by 0.39 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Assurant, Inc. AIZ, down 7 percent, and Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. GSBC, down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Time Warner Inc TWX reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Time Warner reported Q4 earnings of $1.25 per share on revenue of $7.89 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.19 per share on revenue of $7.72 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. APOP shares shot up 30 percent to $5.42. Cellect Biotech disclosed that it has treated the first blood cancer patient in Phase I/II trial of ApoGraft

Shares of Coherent, Inc. COHR got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $188.99 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings.

Kforce Inc. KFRC shares were also up, gaining 19 percent to $25.30 after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

Galena Biopharma Inc GALE shares dropped 41 percent to $0.830. Galena Biopharma priced its offering with anticipated gross proceeds of $17 million.

Shares of Real Goods Solar, Inc. RGSE were down around 24 percent to $2.18. RGS Energy priced its $6 million public offering of common stock and warrants.

SPS Commerce, Inc. SPSC was down, falling around 19 percent to $53.83. SPS Commerce posted upbeat Q4 results, but issued a weak forecast for the current quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.44 percent to $52.40 while gold traded up 0.66 percent to $1,244.20.

Silver traded up 0.36 percent Wednesday to $17.82, while copper rose 1.65 percent to $2.68.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.33 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.02 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.58 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.05 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.26 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.04 percent.

Economics

Crude-oil supplies rose 13.83 million barrels for the week ended February 3. However, analysts were expecting a gain of 2.53 million barrels.

The Treasury will also auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.