Mid-Afternoon Market Update: AMC Entertainment Drops Amid Q2 Warning; Spirit AeroSystems Shares Surge

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.18 percent to 22,003.63 while the NASDAQ declined 0.12 percent to 6,355.05. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.10 percent to 2,473.86.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the energy sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Tidewater Inc. TDW and Texas Pacific Land Trust TPL.

In trading on Wednesday, telecommunications services shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.65 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Telecom Argentina SA (ADR) TEO, down 3 percent, and PLDT Inc (ADR) PHI, down 3 percent.

Top Headline

Apple Inc. AAPL reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.

Apple reported Q3 earnings of $1.67 per share, beating estimates by 10 cents. Sales came in at $45.4 billion, topping estimates by $510 million.

Per usual, it was all eyes on iPhone sales, which came in at 41 million units. Apple sold 11.42 million iPad units and 4.29 million Mac units.

Equities Trading UP

Systemax Inc. SYX shares shot up 20 percent to $22.93 as the company reported stronger-than-expected Q2 results.

Shares of Spark Therapeutics Inc c ONCE got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $79.42. Spark Therapeutics reported a Q2 loss of $74.4 million on revenue of $1.5 million.

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. SPR shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $70.77 as the company posted upbeat Q2 results and raised its buyback plan to $1 billion. The company also disclosed that it has reached an agreement with Boeing Co BA.

Equities Trading DOWN

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc AMC shares dropped 24 percent to $15.90 following a poor outlook. The company said that it expects to lose $1.34 to $1.36 per share (after earning $0.24 per share last year) in the second quarter on revenue of $1.2 billion to $1.204 billion versus Wall Street's expectations for $1.26 billion.

Shares of RadiSys Corporation RSYS were down 31 percent to $1.69. Radisys reported Q2 adjusted loss of $0.06 per share on sales of $35.1 million. For the current quarter, RadiSys projects a loss of $0.13 per share to a loss of $0.09 per share, and revenue of $26 million to $30 million.

Flotek Industries Inc FTK was down, falling around 36 percent to $5.32. Flotek Industries reported a Q2 loss of $3.8 million on revenue of $85.2 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.35 percent to $49.33 while gold traded down 0.22 percent to $1,276.60.

Silver traded down 0.53 percent Wednesday to $16.675, while copper rose 0.09 percent to $2.8835.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.43 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.69 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.18 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.57 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.39 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.16 percent.

Economics

The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity declined 2.8 percent for the latest week.

Private sector employers added 178,000 jobs in July, ADP reported. However, economists were expecting a gain of 185,000 jobs.

Crude oil inventories dropped 1.53 million barrels in the week ended July 28, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a decline of 2.96 million barrels.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will speak in Las Vegas at 3:30 p.m. ET.