Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Lands' End Jumps On Strong Quarterly Earnings; GT Advanced Technologies Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.34 percent to 17,071.15 while the NASDAQ surged 0.67 percent to 4,582.69. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.35 percent to 1,995.44.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

In trading on Wednesday, healthcare shares rose 0.74 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NPS Pharmaceuticals NPSP, up 22.5 percent, and Cytokinetics CYTK, up 13.6 percent.

Energy shares tumbled 0.65 percent in trading on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top decliners in the sector included Texas Pacific Land Trust TPL, down 5.3 percent, and Western Refining WNR, off 4.5 percent.

Top Headline

On Tuesday, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts KKD posted a weaker-than-expected second-quarter profit.

Net income for the quarter grew from $4.7 million, or 7 cents a share in the year-ago period, to $5.75 million, or $0.08 cents a share. Excluding items, income was $0.13 a share, down from $0.14 last year.

Revenue increased 6.9 percent from $112.7 million to $120.5 million. Earnings missed analysts' expectations for $0.16 a share on revenue of $118.13.

Equities Trading UP

NPS Pharmaceuticals NPSP shares shot up 22.58 percent to $31.59 after the company reported that the FDA has posted briefing materials for Advisory Committee meeting reviewing Natpara for Hypoparathyroidism

Shares of Lands' End LE got a boost, shooting up 18.93 percent to $39.65 after the company reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results.

Palo Alto Networks PANW shares were also up, gaining 10.57 percent to $98.72 after the company posted better-than-expected FQ4 revenue and issued a strong revenue forecast for the current quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of GT Advanced Technologies GTAT were down 14.52 percent to $12.77 after Goldman Sachs, Dougherty and Piper Jaffray downgraded shares.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts KKD shares tumbled 5.34 percent to $16.67 after the company posted a weaker-than-expected second-quarter profit.

eBay EBAY was down, falling 3.22 percent to $51.03. Marketing service provider ChannelAdvisor said eBay’s comparable sales grew 5.9% in August. Analysts at Piper Jaffray downgraded eBay from Overweight to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.36 percent to $91.49, while gold traded up 0.03 percent to $1,248.90.

Silver traded up 0.34 percent Wednesday to $18.99, while copper rose 0.34 percent to $3.11.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.05 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.13 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.04 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.11 percent and the French CAC 40 declined 0.04 percent while UK shares gained 0.02 percent.

Economics

US wholesale inventories increased 0.1% in July, while wholesale sales rose 0.7% in the month.

The MBA reported that its index of mortgage application activity fell 7.20% in the week ended September 5.

US crude-oil supplies fell 1 million barrels in the week ended September 5, according to the Energy Information Administration. Gasoline stockpiles rose 2.4 million, while distillates inventories increased 4.1 million barrels.