Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.01 percent to 20,923.90 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.36 percent to 5,854.90. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.10 percent to 2,370.70.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Financial shares rose 0.51 percent in trading on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Northeast Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBN), and Gain Capital Holdings Inc (NYSE:GCAP).
In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 1.01 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Cia Energetica de Minas Gerais CEMIG-ADR (NYSE:CIG), down 3 percent, and NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG), down 3 percent.
Top Headline
Childrens Place Inc (NASDAQ:PLCE) posted better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.
Children's Place posted Q4 earnings of $1.88 per share on revenue of $520.8 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.59 per share on revenue of $522.2 million.
Children's Place reported a $250 million share buyback plan and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.40 per share.
Equities Trading UP
ParkerVision, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRKR) shares shot up 23 percent to $3.18 following favorable patent decisions versus QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) announced Tuesday.
Shares of CafePress Inc (NASDAQ:PRSS) got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $3.39 on strong results for the fourth quarter.
Childrens Place Inc (NASDAQ:PLCE) shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $115.85 after the company posted better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.
Equities Trading DOWN
Natera Inc (NASDAQ:NTRA) shares dropped 13 percent to $8.55 after the company reported a wider-than-expected fourth-quarter loss.
Shares of Express, Inc. (NYSE:EXPR) were down around 15 percent to $9.10. Express reported in-line earnings for its fourth quarter, but issued a weak outlook for the current quarter.
Health Insurance Innovations Inc (NASDAQ:HIIQ) was down, falling around 13 percent to $15.06. Health Insurance Innovations reported a secondary offering by selling shareholders.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.15 percent to $52.53 while gold traded down 0.54 percent to $1,209.50.
Silver traded down 1.03 percent Wednesday to $17.36, while copper rose 0.40 percent to $2.63.
Eurozone
European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.17 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.48 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.06 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.23 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.19 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.08 percent.
Economics
The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity declined 3.3 percent for the latest week.
Private-sector employers added 298,000 jobs in February, ADP reported. However, economists were expecting a gain of 190,000 jobs.
U.S. nonfarm productivity rose 1.30 percent for the fourth quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.50 percent gain. Unit-labor costs increased 1.7 percent for the quarter.
U.S. wholesale inventories declined 0.2 percent in January.
The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.
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