Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Morgan Stanley Beats Q1 Expectations

Following the markets opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.01 percent to 20,523.76 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.64 percent to 5,886.84. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.41 percent to 2,351.68.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the financial sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from LNB Bancorp Inc LNBB and Mesabi Trust MSB.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 0.37 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Huaneng Power International Inc (ADR) HNP, down 2 percent, and Pampa Energia S.A. (ADR) PAM, down 3 percent.

Top Headline

Morgan Stanley MS reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

Morgan Stanley said it earned $1.00 per share in the quarter on revenue of $9.7 billion; Analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.88 per share on revenue of $9.3 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Argos Therapeutics Inc ARGS shares shot up 51 percent to $0.590 after the company announced interim results of the Phase 3 ADAPT trial of Rocapuldencel-T and decision to continue the trial.

Shares of Soligenix, Inc. SNGX got a boost, shooting up 67 percent to $4.30. Soligenix reported that results from its ricin toxin vaccine program will be presented at the 20th Annual Conference on Vaccine Research.

CalAmp Corp. CAMP shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $17.63 after the company reported strong Q4 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Sunshine Heart Inc SSH shares dropped 32 percent to $0.915. Sunshine Heart reported the pricing of $8 million offering.

Shares of Libbey Inc. LBY were down around 20 percent to $11.23 after the company reported weak preliminary financial results for its first quarter.

Platinum Group Metals Limited (USA) PLG was down, falling around 12 percent to $1.29 after the company reported a $20 million bought deal financing.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.17 percent to $52.50 while gold traded down 0.61 percent to $1,286.20.

Silver traded down 0.18 percent Wednesday to $18.24, while copper rose 1.06 percent to $2.5675.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.33 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.73 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.35 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.22 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.33 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.23 percent.

Economics

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

Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren is set to speak in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. at 12:30 p.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release its latest Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.