Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Down 75 Points; Paycom Software Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.30 percent to 25,339.34 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.38 percent to 7,701.11. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.11 percent to 2,813.23.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the information technology shares climbed 0.49 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pandora Media, Inc. P up 16 percent, and Paycom Software, Inc. PAYC up 20 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 1.51 percent.

Top Headline

Apple Inc. AAPL reported stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Earnings came in at $2.34, beating estimates by 16 cents. Sales came in at $53.27 billion, beating estimates by $930 million. The company issued strong fourth-quarter sales guidance and sees gross margins of 38 percent-38.5 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Paycom Software, Inc. PAYC shares shot up 20 percent to $127.32 following a second-quarter earnings beat. The company issued strong third-quarter and FY18 sales guidance.

Shares of SodaStream International Ltd. SODA got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $110.321 after the company posted upbeat Q2 earnings and raised its forecast.

The Container Store Group, Inc. TCS shares were also up, gaining 42 percent to $9.42 after reporting comp store sales were up 4.7 percent in the first quarter. Adjusted EPS came in at $(0.08), up from $(0.11) in the same quarter of last year. The company raised its FY2018 outlook.

Equities Trading DOWN

Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated DBD shares dropped 36 percent to $7.225 after posting downbeat Q2 earnings.

Shares of Basic Energy Services, Inc. BAS were down 26 percent to $8.385 as the company posted weaker-than-expected Q2 earnings.

InnerWorkings, Inc. INWK was down, falling around 29 percent to $6.25 after the company reported downbeat Q1 results and cut its FY18 guidance.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.05 percent to $67.35 while gold traded down 0.35 percent to $1,229.30.

Silver traded down 0.60 percent Wednesday to $15.465, while copper fell 3.2 to $2.741.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.45 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.72 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 1.91 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.53 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.23 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.24 percent.

Economics

Private-sector employers added 219,000 jobs in July, the ADP reported. However, economists were expecting a gain of 186,000 jobs.

The Markit manufacturing PMI slipped to 55.30 for July, versus previous reading of 55.50. Economists projected a reading of 55.50.

U.S. construction spending declined 1.1 percent for June, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent gain.

The ISM manufacturing index dropped to 58.10 for July, versus prior reading of 60.20. Economists projected a reading of 59.80.

Domestic crude supplies climbed 3.8 million barrels for the week ended July 27, the Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts expected a decline of 2.4 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles slipped 2.5 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles gained 3 million barrels for the week.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve maintained rates between 1.75 percent and 2 percent at its Aug. 1 meeting.