Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Up 2.5%; Exact Sciences Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.08 percent to 25,801.10 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.23 percent to 7,877.19. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.02 percent to 2,863.59.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Wednesday, the energy shares rose 1.25 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 1.61 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 24 percent to $62.15 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 17 percent to $25.65 after the company reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter and issued strong third-quarter sales guidance.

Yulong Eco-Materials Limited YECO shares were also up, gaining 60 percent to $2.19 as the company signed a sale and purchase deal to buy Millennium Sapphire for $50 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Super Micro Computer, Inc. SMCI shares dropped 13 percent to $15.875 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 14 percent to $1.37. New Age Beverages priced its 8.2 million share common stock offering at $1.28 per share.

BIO-key International, Inc. BKYI was down, falling around 16 percent to $1.7533 after the company announced a 1.2 million unit offering at $1.50 per unit.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.5 percent to $67.49 while gold traded up 0.20 percent to $1,202.40.

Silver traded down 0.27 percent Wednesday to $14.82, while copper fell 0.72 to $2.692.

Eurozone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.08 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.34 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.49 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.17 percent, and the French CAC 40 surged 0.10 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.15 percent.

Economics

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

Domestic crude supplies declined 5.84 million barrels for the week ended August 17, the Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a drop of 1.5 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles gained 1.2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose 1.85 million barrels for the week.

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