Mid-Day Market Update: Photronics Gains After Q4 Results; Autodesk Shares Slide

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.41 percent to 23,933.54 while the NASDAQ declined 0.93 percent to 6,848.00. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.05 percent to 2,628.46.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Wednesday, the financial sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. PB and Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TCBI.

In trading on Wednesday, technology shares fell 1.86 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Autodesk, Inc. ADSK, down 16 percent, and Data I/O Corporation DAIO down 11 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 18 percent to $4.54 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 Capricor Therapeutics Inc CAPR got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $2.27 after the company reported the FDA clearance of Investigational New Drug application for CAP-1002.

Photronics, Inc. PLAB shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $10.35 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 $6.80 as the company posted downbeat quarterly earnings.

Shares of Autodesk, Inc. ADSK were down 16 percent to $109.43. 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.

Gridsum Holding Inc - ADR GSUM was down, falling around 10 percent to $9.00 after reporting Q3 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.24 percent to $57.85 while gold traded down 0.71 percent to $1,290.00.

Silver traded down 1.04 percent Wednesday to $16.735, while copper fell 0.63 percent to $3.079.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 surged 0.69 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.51 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 0.41 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.61 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.74 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.

Domestic crude supplies dropped 3.43 million barrels for the week ended November 24, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a fall of 2.30 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles gained 3.63 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose 2.75 million barrels for the week.

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.