Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; Morgan Stanley Profit Tops Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.15 percent to 24,748.56 while the NASDAQ declined 0.15 percent to 7,269.88. However, the S&P rose 0.02 percent to 7,269.88.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the energy shares climbed 1.29 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included SeaDrill Limited SDRL, up 19 percent, and Energy XXI Gulf Coast, Inc. EGC, up 10 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares fell 0.47 percent.

Top Headline

Morgan Stanley MS reported better-than-expected profit for its first quarter.

The bank said it earned $1.45 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $11.08 billion versus expectations of $1.25 per share on revenue of $10.36 billion.

Equities Trading UP

IZEA, Inc. IZEA shares shot up 25 percent to $2.7525. IZEA posted a Q4 net loss of $743,000 on sales of $6.8 million.

Shares of DropCar, Inc. DCAR got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $2.27 after the company issued a preliminary Q1 update on its enterprise automotive business. The company disclosed that Q1 B2B automotive volumes rose 163 percent year-over-year.

Teligent, Inc. TLGT shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $3.48 following the FDA approval of Clobetasol Propionate Cream USP, 0.05%.

Equities Trading DOWN

Dynagas LNG Partners LP DLNG shares dropped 12 percent to $9.30 after the company lowered its quarterly distribution to $0.25 per common unit from $0.4225 per common unit.

Shares of Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. AGLE were down 10 percent to $8.49 after the company reported an offering of 4.5 million shares of common stock.

Healthcare Services Group, Inc. HCSG was down, falling around 10 percent to $36.60 after reporting Q1 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.52 percent to $67.53 while gold traded up 0.28 percent to $1,353.30.

Silver traded up 1.21 percent Wednesday to $16.99, while copper rose 1.92 percent to $3.1625.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.03 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.42 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.08 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.05 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.35 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.88 percent.

Economics

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

The Federal Reserve will release its latest Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.

New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley will speak in New York at 3:15 p.m. ET.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Governor Randal Quarles is set to speak in Washington at 4:15 p.m. ET.