Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Abbott Laboratories Posts In-Line Q3 Earnings

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.87 percent to 25,574.66 while the NASDAQ declined 0.57 percent to 7,602.03. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.57 percent to 2,793.96.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the communication services shares slipped by just 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included QuinStreet, Inc. QNST up 8 percent, and Netflix, Inc. NFLX up 6 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer discretionary shares fell 1.2 percent.

Top Headline

Abbott Laboratories ABT reported in-line earnings for its third quarter.

Abbott posted quarterly earnings of $0.75 per share on revenue of $7.66 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.75 per share on sales of $7.65 billion. Abbott narrowed its FY18 adjusted earnings guidance from $2.85-$2.91 per share to $2.87-$2.89 per share.

Equities Trading UP

vTv Therapeutics Inc VTVT shares shot up 35 percent to $3.83. The company is engaged in the research and development of treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes. This week, it announced the delivery of an oral presentation at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease in Barcelona, Spain later this month. The oral presentation intends to detail the results from the Phase 3 study of azeliragon in patients with mild Alzheimer’s. Additionally, a subgroup analysis from the STEADFAST trial will be presented, to discuss the missing link between diabetes and dementia.

Shares of Vicor Corporation VICR got a boost, shooting up 15 percent to $43.85 following Q3 earnings. The company reported a strong increase in both EPS and sales from last year.

Oragenics, Inc. OGEN shares were also up, gaining 9 percent to $1.238 after the company received clearance from The Belgian Health Authority to enroll patients into its Phase 2 clinical trial of AG013 for oral mucositis.

Equities Trading DOWN

Revolution Lighting Technologies, Inc. RVLT shares dropped 37 percent to $1.6201 after the company lowered its Q3 and FY18 guidance.

Shares of Blink Charging Co. BLNK were down 23 percent to $2.75 after rising 62.56 percent on Tuesday.

Smart Sand, Inc. SND was down, falling around 20 percent to $3.06. Jefferies downgraded Smart Sand from Hold to Underperform.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.86 percent to $71.30 while gold traded down 0.10 percent to $1,229.80.

Silver traded down 0.01 percent Wednesday to $14.70, while copper rose 0.22 to $2.7855.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.24 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.63 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.65 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.55 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.29 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.19 percent.

Economics

U.S. housing starts dropped 5.3 percent to an annual rate of 1.201 million in September. However, economists expected a 1.22 million pace.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

US Federal Reserve Bank Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak in Boston, MA at 12:10 p.m. ET.

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