Mid-Afternoon Market Update: iRobot Gains On Earnings Beat; Seagate Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.09 percent to 21,015.95 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.10 percent to 6,031.78. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.15 percent to 2,392.08.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Conn's Inc CONN and Wyndham Worldwide Corporation WYN.

In trading on Wednesday, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares slipped by 0.33 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. DPS, down 6 percent, and USANA Health Sciences, Inc. USNA, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Twitter Inc TWTR reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Wednesday.

Twitter said it earned $0.11 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $548.25 million; Analysts were expecting the company to earn one cent per share on revenue of $511.91 million.

Daily active usage (DAU) rose 14 percent year-over-year which marked the fourth consecutive quarter of growth, while total monthly active users (MAU) rose nine million from a quarter ago to 328 million.

Equities Trading UP

Sajan, Inc. SAJA shares shot up 43 percent to $5.72 after the company agreed to be purchased by AMPLEXOR at $5.83 per share in cash.

Shares of Akebia Therapeutics Inc AKBA got a boost, shooting up 39 percent to $13.04. Akebia Therapeutics and Otsuka disclosed that they have expanded relationship with collaboration to develop and commercialize Vadadustat in Europe, China and other territories.

iRobot Corporation IRBT shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $79.53 after the company posted upbeat Q1 earnings.

Equities Trading DOWN

United States Steel Corporation X shares dropped 27 percent to $22.84. after the company reported surprise loss for its first quarter. U.S. Steel reported an adjusted loss of $0.83 per share and revenue of $2.73 billion.

Shares of Seagate Technology PLC STX were down around 16 percent to $42.33. Seagate posted upbeat quarterly earnings, while sales missed estimates.

Flexion Therapeutics Inc FLXN was down, falling around 20 percent to $20.84. Flexion Therapeutics reported a proposed convertible senior notes offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.36 percent to $49.38 while gold traded up 0.13 percent to $1,268.90.

Silver traded down 0.90 percent Wednesday to $17.50, while copper rose 0.60 percent to $2.6065.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.47 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.18 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.15 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.05 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.19 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.18 percent.

Economics

Crude supplies dropped 3.6 million barrels for the week ended April 21, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts were expecting a decline of 1 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles increased 3.4 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose 2.7 million barrels last week.