Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Michael Kors Beats Q4 Estimates

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.55 percent to 24,495.22 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.53 percent to 7,435.76. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.59 percent to 2,705.60.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the energy shares surged 1.9 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Dorian LPG Ltd. LPG, up 8 percent, and Legacy Reserves LP LGCY up 14 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 0.15 percent.

Top Headline

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd KORS reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter and issued strong first-quarter guidance.

Michael Kors posted adjusted earnings of $0.63 per share on revenue of $1.18 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.59 per share on revenue of $1.15 billion.

Michael Kors Holdings expects Q1 sales of $1.14 billion and earnings of $0.90 to $0.95 per share. Analysts expected earnings of $$0.88 per share on revenue of $1.09 billion. The company projects earnings of $4.65 to $4.75 per share for fiscal year 2019, versus analysts' estimates of $4.74 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. DKS shares shot up 22 percent to $37.15 after the company reported upbeat Q1 earnings and raised FY18 earnings outlook.

Shares of Movado Group, Inc. MOV got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $49.00 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 results and raised its guidance.

Immutep Limited IMMP shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $2.735 after the company reported new data from its ongoing TACTI-mel Phase I trial, which evaluated the combination of eftilagimod alpha, its lead compound, with Merck & Co., Inc. MRK's Keytruda in unresectable or metastatic melanoma patients, who have had a suboptimal response or had disease progression with keytruda monotherapy..

Equities Trading DOWN

Chico's FAS, Inc. CHS shares dropped 21 percent to $7.87 after the company reported downbeat earnings for its first quarter and issued a weak Q2 forecast.

Shares of Daktronics, Inc. DAKT were down 19 percent to $8.11 after reporting weaker-than-expected quarterly results.

DSW Inc. DSW was down, falling around 11 percent to $23.295 despite reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.78 percent to $67.25 while gold traded up 0.09 percent to $1,305.30.

Silver traded up 0.59 percent Wednesday to $16.47, while copper fell 0.49 to $3.0475.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.04 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.39 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.78 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.66 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.39 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.08 percent.

Economics

The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity declined 2.9 percent for the week ended May 25.

Private sector employers added 178,000 jobs in May, payrolls processor ADP reported.

The U.S. economy grew at an annual pace of 2.2 percent in the first quarter, compared to previous reading of 2.3 percent growth.

The U.S. trade gap in goods declined 0.6 percent to $68.2 billion in April. Economists projected a $71 billion deficit.

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

Data on farm prices for April will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.