Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Blink Charging Rises After Q1 Results; Purple Innovation Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.29 percent to 24,778.96 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.69 percent to 7,402.60. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.49 percent to 2,724.69.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the materials shares rose 1.14 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Verso Corporation VRS, up 6 percent, and Lithium Americas Corp. LAC up 6 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 1.03 percent.

Top Headline

Macy's Inc M reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter and lifted guidance.

The company said it earned 48 cents per share in the first quarter on revenue of $5.54 billion versus expectations of 35 cents per share and $5.39 billion. Management lifted its fiscal 2018 EPS guidance from $3.55-$3.75 to a new range of $3.75-$3.95.

Equities Trading UP

Blink Charging Co. BLNK shares shot up 37 percent to $7.46. Blink Charging reported Q1 net income of $2.2 million, versus a year-ago net loss of $3.1 million.

Shares of Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc. EBIO got a boost, shooting up 22 percent to $3.2299. Eleven Biotherapeutics posted a Q1 loss of $0.11 per share and disclosed a $150 million mixed offering.

Abaxis, Inc. ABAX shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $83.08. Zoetis Inc. ZTS announced plans to acquire Abaxis for $83 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Evolus, Inc. EOLS shares dropped 22 percent to $11.42. The lifestyle aesthetics company said the FDA issued a Complete Response Letter which cited deficiencies which were related to Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls processes which is not related to clinical or non-clinical matters.

Shares of Cemtrex, Inc. CETX were down 26 percent to $1.94. Cemtrex posted Q2 earnings of $0.04 per share on sales of $20.6 million.

Purple Innovation, Inc. PRPL was down, falling around 31 percent to $6.97 after the company reported Q1 results and issued weak sales guidance.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.29 percent to $71.10 while gold traded up 0.03 percent to $1,290.70.

Silver traded up 0.59 percent Wednesday to $16.365, while copper rose 0.51 to $3.0715.
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Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.21 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.95 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 2.32 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.20 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.26 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.15 percent.

Economics

Housing starts fell 3.7 percent to an annual rate of 1.29 million in April, versus a revised 1.34 million rate in March. Housing permits declined 1.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.35 million.

U.S. industrial production rose 0.7 percent for April, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent growth.

Crude supplies fell 1.4 million barrels for the week ended May 11, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a drop of 2.3 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles declined 3.8 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 100,000 barrels for the week.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard will speak at 6:30 p.m. ET.