Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NXT-ID Surges Following Crypto Related News; Applied DNA Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.06 percent to 24,769.96 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.10 percent to 6,970.73. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.07 percent to 2,683.34.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the basic materials sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. SCHN and Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (ADR) SID.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 0.40 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Genie Energy Ltd GNE, down 3 percent, and Edison International EIX down 2 percent.


Top Headline

General Mills, Inc. GIS reported in-line earnings for its second quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.

General Mills reported Q2 earnings of $0.82 per share on revenue of $4.2 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.82 per share on revenue of $4.09 billion.

General Mills expects FY18 sales growth to be flat to down 1 percent, versus its previous range of down 1 percent to 2 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Net Element International Inc NETE shares shot up 331 percent to $22.45. The fintech company announced the launch of a blockchain-focused business unit to support its electronic payment services in partnership with Bunker Capital. The “decentralized crypto-based ecosystem” is intended to directly connect merchants and consumers engaged in transactions.

Shares of Seven Stars Cloud Group Inc SSC got a boost, shooting up 34 percent to $5.80. Seven Stars announced its 27-percent stake in Delaware Board of Trade Holdings, Inc., which claims to be the first and only blockchain-based alternative trading system licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

NXT-ID Inc NXTD shares were also up, gaining 72 percent to $3.13. The firm’s wholly owned subsidiary, Fit Pay, Inc., announced it has extended partnership with Cascade Financial Technology Corp to develop a platform enabling expense of cryptocurrency at global retail sites. Their collaborative product will transfer cryptocurrency value into accepted digital payment forms.

Equities Trading DOWN

Applied DNA Sciences Inc APDN shares dropped 25 percent to $1.6652 after the company reported a $4.8 million registered direct offering of common stock.

Shares of My Size, Inc. MYSZ were down 15 percent to $0.238. My Size reported pricing of 3.833 million share common stock offering at $0.65 per share.

Atossa Genetics Inc ATOS was down, falling around 24 percent to $0.238 after the company reported the pricing of 5.3 million share common stock offering.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.66 percent to $57.94 while gold traded up 0.53 percent to $1,270.90.

Silver traded up 0.91 percent Wednesday to $16.30, while copper rose 1.55 percent to $3.2005.


Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.68 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.26 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.74 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 1.11 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.56 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.25 percent.

Economics

U.S. existing-home sales gained 5.6 percent to an annual rate of 5.81 million in November. However, economists were expecting a 5.54 million rate.

U.S. crude oil inventories declined 6.5 million barrels last week, the EIA reported. However, analysts projected a drop of 3.77 million barrels.

Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Afternoon Market Update
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