Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up Over 2%; Alnylam Pharma Shares Climb After Positive Phase 3 Results

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.19 percent to 22,328.28 while the NASDAQ declined 0.66 percent to 6,418.93. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.36 percent to 2,497.76.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the energy shares surged 0.79 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Contango Oil & Gas Company MCF, up 13 percent, and Cenovus Energy Inc (USA) CVE, up 7 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, technology shares fell 0.69 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included MakeMyTrip Limited MMYT, down 8 percent, and Western Digital Corp WDC down 5 percent.

Top Headline

General Mills, Inc. GIS reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

General Mills posted Q1 adjusted earnings of $0.71 per share on revenue of $3.77 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.76 per share on sales of $3.79 billion.


Equities Trading UP

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALNY shares shot up 53 percent to $114.87 after the company impressed investors with encouraging data from a phase 3 clinical trial. Alnylam, a company dedicated towards treating a wide range of debilitating diseases through ribonucleic acid (RNA) interference (RNAi) therapeutics, said after Tuesday's market close that a phase 3 study called APOLLO met its primary efficacy endpoint and all secondary endpoints.

Shares of DelMar Pharmaceuticals Inc DMPI got a boost, shooting up 86 percent to $2.08 after announcing issuance of new patent for VAL-08.

Trio-Tech International TRT shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $4.99. Trio-Tech reported Q4 earnings of $0.09 per share on sales of $10.638 million.


Equities Trading DOWN

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. BBBY shares dropped 16 percent to $22.83 as the company reported downbeat earnings for its third quarter.

Shares of Maxwell Technologies Inc. MXWL were down 15 percent to $5.34. Maxwell reported amended terms for deal with Viex Capital and announced a proposed offering of $50 million convertible senior notes due 2022.

Tintri Inc TNTR was down, falling around 17 percent to $3.03. Raymond James downgraded Tintri from Outperform to Underperform.


Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 2.12 percent to $50.53 while gold traded up 0.40 percent to $1,315.90.

Silver traded up 0.41 percent Wednesday to $17.35, while copper fell 0.05 percent to $2.968.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.04 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.83 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.31 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.06 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.08 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.05 percent.

Economics

The MBA's index of mortgage application activity rose 9.7 percent for the latest week.

Existing home sales declined 1.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.35 million in August. However, economists were expecting a 5.46 million rate.

Domestic crude supplies rose 4.59 million barrels for the week ended September 15, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts expected a gain of 3.49 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles dropped 2.13 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 5.69 million barrels for the week.

The Federal Reserve kept benchmark interest rate unchanged.

Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Afternoon Market Update
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