Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; Stanley Black & Decker To Buy Newell Tool Unit For $1.95B

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.01 percent to 18,126.09 while the NASDAQ declined 0.01 percent to 5,246.49. However, the S&P gained 0.02 percent 2,137.23.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained by 0.30 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 0.74 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. HOS, down 5 percent, and BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust BPT, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Newell Brands Inc NWL disclosed a definitive agreement with Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. SWK to divest its tools unit for about $1.95 billion.

The companies expect the transaction to be completed in the first half of next year subject to regulatory approvals.

Newell Brands indicated that the sale proceeds would be utilized to pay down its debt in line with the objective of achieving a 3–3.5 times EBITDA leverage ratio before the year 2018 ends.

Equities Trading UP

VOXX International Corp VOXX shares shot up 28 percent to $3.28. VOXX reported Q2 earnings of $0.12 per share on sales of $159.3 million.

Shares of IntelliPharmaCeutics Intl Inc (USA) IPCI got a boost, shooting up 9 percent to $3.09 after the company disclosed that it has signed an exclusive license and commercial supply agreement with Mallinckrodt.

Barracuda Networks Inc CUDA shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $26.11 after the company posted stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter on Tuesday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson ERIC shares dropped 18 percent to $5.75 after the company issued a profit warning for the third quarter.

Shares of Fortinet Inc FTNT were down 12 percent to $29.92 after the company lowered its outlook for the third quarter on Tuesday.

Theravance Biopharma Inc TBPH was down, falling around 9 percent to $34.12. Baird downgraded Theravance Biopharma from Neutral to Underperform.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.02 percent to $51.23 while gold traded down 0.10 percent to $1,254.60.

Silver traded down 0.22 percent Wednesday to $17.47, while copper rose 0.07 percent to $2.19.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.20 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.10 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.05 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.48 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.35 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.14 percent.

Economics

The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 10-year notes at 1:00 a.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.