Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; American Eagle Issues Weak Profit Forecast

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.03 percent to 26,056.22 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.35 percent to 8,058.06. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.12 percent to 2,901.09.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the information technology shares rose 0.44 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included FRONTEO, Inc. FTEO up 10 percent, and Unisys Corporation UIS up 9 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, financial shares fell 0.33 percent.

Top Headline

American Eagle Outfitters AEO reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter, but issued weak earnings forecast for the current quarter.

American Eagle posted quarterly earnings of $0.34 per share on revenue of $965 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.31 per share on revenue of $938.23 million. American Eagle now expects Q3 earnings of $0.45 to $0.47 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $0.49 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Inc. OPNT shares shot up 67 percent to $26.0010 following news that its commercial partner, Adapt Pharma, agreed to be acquired by Emergent Biosolutions for $735 million.

Shares of Glaukos Corporation GKOS got a boost, shooting up 46 percent to $65.25 following positive commentary from William Blair. The firm said concern over competition has 'materially lessened' after the company's competitor Alcon announced the withdrawal of CyPass from the market.

Westport Fuel Systems Inc. WPRT shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $3.51 after the company late Tuesday announced an agreement with Weichai Westport to develop a natural gas engine featuring Westport HPDI 2.0 technology

Equities Trading DOWN

Assertio Therapeutics, Inc. ASRT shares dropped 16 percent to $6.16. Assertio Therapeutics announced said it has entered into a settlement agreement with Purdue Pharma with regard to its patent infringement lawsuit against the latter in a U.S. district court. The lawsuit alleges infringement by Purdue of some of Assertio's patents with regard to Purdue's commercialization of Oxycontin.

Shares of Movado Group, Inc. MOV were down 12 percent to $43.40 after the company reported Q2 results.

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. AEO was down, falling around 11 percent to $24.31. American Eagle reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter, but issued weak earnings forecast for the current quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.73 percent to $69.03 while gold traded down 0.42 percent to $1,209.30.

Silver traded down 0.93 percent Wednesday to $14.76, while copper fell 1.11 to $2.728.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.14 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.72 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.09 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.15 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.25 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.30 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy expanded at an annual pace of 4.2 percent in the second quarter, versus a preliminary estimate of 4.1 percent.

The pending home sales index fell 0.7 percent to a reading of 106.2 for July.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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