Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Up Over 1%; Assertio Therapeutics Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.05 percent to 26,078.17 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.68 percent to 8,084.72. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.35 percent to 2,907.59.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Wednesday, the information technology shares rose 0.72 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included FRONTEO, Inc. FTEO up 10 percent, and Canadian Solar Inc. CSIQ up 11 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, industrials shares fell 0.21 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 43 percent to $22.31 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 35 percent to $60.59 after one of the company’s major competitors removed its product from the market. Alcon announced that it's voluntarily withdrawing its CyPass Micro-Stent from the market following new data from a five-year, long-term COMPASS-XT safety study. Alcon also advised opthalmic surgeons to stop implanting the CyPass stents.

iPass Inc. IPAS shares were also up, gaining 34 percent to $2.4501 after the company disclosed that a major US bank signed a deal with iPass for global mobile connectivity.

Equities Trading DOWN

Assertio Therapeutics, Inc. ASRT shares dropped 14 percent to $6.32. 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 $43.30 after the company reported Q2 results.

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. AEO was down, falling around 12 percent to $24.12. 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 1.12 percent to $69.30 while gold traded down 0.26 percent to $1,211.20.

Silver traded down 0.80 percent Wednesday to $14.78, while copper fell 0.82 to $2.736.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.17 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.77 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.33 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.16 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.22 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.93 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.

Domestic crude supplies fell 2.6 million barrels for the week ended August 24, the Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a drop of 1 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles declined 1.6 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 800,000 barrels for the week.

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.