Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Lower; Target Beats Q2 Expectations

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.10 percent to 25,795.45 while the NASDAQ declined 0.03 percent to 7,856.52. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.12 percent to 2,859.40.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the energy shares rose 0.98 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included EP Energy Corporation EPE up 9 percent, and California Resources Corporation CRC up 5 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, telecommunication services shares fell 1.6 percent.

Top Headline

Target Corporation TGT reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter and raised its FY18 outlook.

Target posted quarterly earnings of $1.47 per share on revenue of $17.78 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.40 per share on revenue of $17.31 billion.

Target now projects full-year earnings of $5.30 to $5.50 per share, versus prior forecast of $5.15 to $5.45 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Exact Sciences Corporation EXAS shares shot up 22 percent to $60.82 after the company announced it will partner with Pfizer through 2021 to co-promote Colorguard stool DNA screening test for colorectal cancer.

Shares of Pure Storage, Inc. PSTG got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $26.135 after the company reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter and issued strong third-quarter sales guidance.

Keysight Technologies, Inc. KEYS shares were also up, gaining 10 percent to $66.05 after reporting a third-quarter earnings beat. The company issued strong fourth-quarter sales guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

Super Micro Computer, Inc. SMCI shares dropped 16 percent to $15.475 following preliminary Q4 results and Q1 sales guidance. The company announced it will not be able to file 10-K by required date to regain Nasdaq listing compliance.

Shares of New Age Beverages Corporation NBEV were down 10 percent to $1.42. New Age Beverages priced its 8.2 million share common stock offering at $1.28 per share.

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. BNED was down, falling around 16 percent to $5.3101 after the company reported a wider-than-expected Q1 loss. The company also disclosed that it has acquired PaperRater.com.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.79 percent to $67.02 while gold traded up 0.63 percent to $1,207.60.

Silver traded up 0.33 percent Wednesday to $14.815, while copper fell 0.33 to $2.7025.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.02 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.18 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.23 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.20 percent, and the French CAC 40 surged 0.17 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.17 percent.

Economics

U.S. existing home sales declined 0.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.34 million for July.

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 Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.