Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Up Over 100 Points; Fed Hikes Interest Rates

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.38 percent to 26,593.91 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.68 percent to 8,061.91. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.44 percent to 2,928.38.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the health care shares rose 0.84 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc ALDX up 60 percent, and Liquidia Technologies Inc LQDA up 14 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, financial shares fell 0.43 percent.

Top Headline

CarMax, Inc KMX reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

CarMax posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.24 per share on sales of $4.77 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.21 per share on sales of $4.65 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc ALDX shares shot up 60 percent to $15.85. The clinical-stage biotech announced a Phase 2b clinical trial that evaluated its topical ocular reproxalap in patients with dry eye disease produced positive results.

Shares of India Globalization Capital, Inc. IGC got a boost, shooting up 31 percent to $3.04 after the company late Tuesday won an agreement for global rights to develop CBD-infused drinks.

SurveyMonkey Inc. SVMK shares were also up, gaining 50 percent to $18.04. SurveyMonkey priced its 15 million share IPO at $12 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Level Brands Inc LEVB shares dropped 21 percent to $4.15 after the company priced a 1.15 million share common stock offering at $5.22/share.

Shares of FlexShopper Inc FPAY were down 25 percent to $0.88 after the company late Tuesday priced a 10 million unit offering at $1 per share.

Entasis Therapeutics Holdings Inc. ETTX was down, falling around 22 percent to $11.7267. Entasis Therapeutics priced its upsized offering of 5 million shares at $15, below the estimated price range of $16 to $18.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.77 percent to $71.72 while gold traded down 0.51 percent to $1,199.00.

Silver traded down 0.68 percent Wednesday to $14.395, while copper rose 0.12 to $2.827.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.30 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.33 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.10 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.09 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.61 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.05 percent.

Economics

U.S. new home sales rose 3.5 percent at an annual rate of 629,000 for August. However, economists were expecting a 630,000 rate.

Domestic crude supplies increased 1.9 million barrels for the week ended September 21, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were projecting a decline of 2.2 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles climbed 1.5 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles dropped 2.2 million barrels for the week.

The Federal Reserve delivered Wednesday the interest rate hike the markets were expecting. The Fed announced it will be upping the fed funds target rate by 0.25 percent to a range of 2.0-2.25 percent.