Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Tiffany Tops Q3 Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.39 percent to 23,929.70 while the NASDAQ declined 0.40 percent to 6,884.58. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.20 percent to 2,632.19.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the financial sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from American Realty Investors, Inc. ARL and Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TCBI.

In trading on Wednesday, technology shares fell 1.23 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Autodesk, Inc. ADSK, down 15 percent, and Data I/O Corporation DAIO down 10 percent.

Top Headline

Tiffany & Co. TIF posted better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Tiffany posted quarterly earnings of $0.80 per share on revenue of $976.2 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.76 per share on revenue of $957 million. Its comparable store sales slipped 1 percent during the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

Marathon Patent Group Inc MARA shares shot up 26 percent to $4.83 after dropping 40.86 percent on Tuesday. Marathon Patent Group filed for sale of 1.85 million shares of common stock by selling stockholders.

Shares of Nuance Communications Inc. NUAN got a boost, shooting up 11 percent to $17.64 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Tuesday.

Photronics, Inc. PLAB shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $10.45 after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Wesco Aircraft Holdings Inc WAIR shares dropped 12 percent to $6.75 as the company posted downbeat quarterly earnings.

Shares of Autodesk, Inc. ADSK were down 15 percent to $110.80. Autodesk reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter, but issued a weak FY18 guidance. The company also announced plans to lay off around 1,150 employees.

Cesca Therapeutics Inc KOOL was down, falling around 7 percent to $2.94. Cesca Therapeutics announced pricing for 900,000 share common stock offering at $3 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.29 percent to $57.82 while gold traded down 0.12 percent to $1,297.70.

Silver traded down 0.14 percent Wednesday to $16.895, while copper fell 0.53 percent to $3.082.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 surged 0.69 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.19 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 0.52 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.97 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.60 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.54 percent.

Economics

The U.S. gross domestic product rose 3.3 percent in the third quarter, versus prior reading of 3 percent growth. Economists were expecting a 3.2 percent growth for the quarter.

The pending home sales index rose 3.5 percent to a reading of 109.3 for October. However, economists were expecting a 1 percent growth.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is set to testify before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee in Washington at 10:00 a.m. ET.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will speak in Phoenix, Arizona at 1:50 p.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release its Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.