Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Up 400 Points; Strongbridge Biopharma Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 1.61 percent to 25,275.11 while the NASDAQ climbed 2.63 percent to 7,350.10. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.8 percent to 2,730.82.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the information technology shares rose 2.9 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Ribbon Communications Inc RBBN up 21 percent, and 21Vianet Group, Inc. VNET up 16 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer staples shares fell 0.5 percent.

Top Headline

Facebook, Inc. FB reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed estimates.

Facebook reported earnings of $1.76 per share, beating the $1.47 estimate by 19.7 percent. Sales came in at $13.73 billion against a $13.79-billion estimate, but a 32-percent year-over-year increase.

The company reported daily active users for September were up 9 percent year-over-year.

Equities Trading UP

Strongbridge Biopharma plc SBBP shares shot up 54 percent to $6.23 after it was reported Novo Nordisk will acquire the US and Canadian rights to MACRILEN from the company and acquire 5.2 million shares for $7/share.

Shares of Denny's Corporation DENN got a boost, shooting up 27 percent to $17.97 following Q3 results.

Accuray Incorporated ARAY shares were also up, gaining 36 percent to $4.66 after the company posted Q1 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Maxar Technologies Ltd. MAXR shares dropped 45 percent to $14.98 after the company reported weak Q3 results.

Shares of Owens & Minor, Inc. OMI were down 42 percent to $8.2758 after the company reported downbeat Q3 sales and issued weak FY18 earnings forecast.

McDermott International Inc MDR was down, falling around 44 percent to $7.26 after the company posted downbeat Q3 results and announced plans to divest storage tank business and U.S. pipe fabrication business.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.54 percent to $65.82 while gold traded down 0.89 percent to $1,214.40.

Silver traded down 1.36 percent Wednesday to $14.265, while copper fell 0.47 to $2.6515.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 1.71 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.99 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.27 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.42 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 2.31 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.31 percent.

Economics

Private-sector employers added 227,000 new jobs in October. However, economists were expecting an addition of 189,000 new jobs.

The employment cost index rose 0.8 percent for the third quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.7 percent increase.

The Chicago PMI declined to 58.40 for October, versus prior reading of 60.40. However, economists were expecting a reading of 60.30.

Domestic crude supplies climbed 3.2 million barrels for the week ended October 26, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 3.3 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles dropped 3.2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles declined 4.1 million barrels last week.