Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Ambarella Drops After Weak Sales Guidance; Carvana Shares Surge

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.21 percent to 21,180.45 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.27 percent to 6,292.20. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.15 percent to 2,432.88.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial sector was the top gainer in the US market on Wednesday. Top gainers in the sector included MBIA Inc. MBI, DDR Corp DDR, and LNB Bancorp Inc LNBB.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 1.84 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included SM Energy Co SM, down 11 percent, and Oasis Petroleum Inc. OAS, down 11 percent.

Top Headline

Brown-Forman Corporation BF reported a weaker-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Brown-Forman reported Q4 profit of $144 million, or $0.37 per share, compared to $522 million, or $1.30 per share, in the year-ago period.

Its total sales declined to $887 million, while net sales slipped to $694 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.40 per share on net sales of $738.52 million.

Equities Trading UP

DragonWave, Inc.(USA) DRWI shares shot up 53 percent to $0.989 following announcement of product and services contract for SmartSky Networks.

Shares of Mateon Therapeutics Inc MATN got a boost, shooting up 21 percent to $0.544 after the company disclosed that it has received the FDA Fast Track designation for OXi4503 for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.

Carvana Co CVNA shares were also up, gaining 20 percent to $11.40 after the company reported upbeat Q1 results and issued a strong sales forecast for the current quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Duluth Holdings Inc DLTH shares dropped 19 percent to $16.71 after the company posted downbeat quarterly profit.

Shares of IDT Corporation IDT were down 21 percent to $13.89 following Q3 results. IDT posted adjusted earnings of $0.28 per share on revenue of $370 million.

Ambarella Inc AMBA was down, falling around 11 percent to $53.27. Ambarella reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter, but issued a weak outlook for the current quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 4.71 percent to $45.92 while gold traded down 0.48 percent to $1,291.30.

Silver traded down 0.68 percent Wednesday to $17.59, while copper rose 0.14 percent to $2.5505.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.06 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.07 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.10 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.14 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.07 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.62 percent.

Economics

Domestic crude supplies increased 3.30 million barrels for the week ended June 2, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts were expecting a drop of 3.46 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles gained 3.32 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose 4.36 million barrels last week.

Data on consumer credit for April will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.