Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Surges Over 500 Points; Etsy Shares Gain On Upbeat Earnings

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 1.97 percent to 26,139.19 while the NASDAQ climbed 2.41 percent to 7,553.81. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.95 percent to 2,809.15.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Wednesday, the consumer discretionary shares climbed 2.9 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Etsy, Inc. ETSY up 25 percent, and Office Depot, Inc. ODP up 25 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer staples shares rose by just 0.3 percent.

Top Headline

Humana Inc HUM reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter.

Humana reported earnings of $4.58 per share, beating estimates of $4.26. Total revenue came in at $14.21 billion, which exceeded estimates of $13.98 billion.

Humana raised its FY18 adjusted earnings guidance from $14.15 per share to $14.40 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Twilio Inc TWLO shares shot up 35 percent to $95.90 after reporting a third-quarter earnings beat. Guidance came in stronger than expected.

Shares of Etsy, Inc. ETSY got a boost, shooting up 25 percent to $50.41 after the company reported upbeat results for its third quarter. The company raised FY18 sales guidance and reported a $200 million buyback.

SendGrid Inc SEND shares were also up, gaining 35 percent to $46.268 following Q3 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

MiMedx Group, Inc. MDXG shares dropped 37 percent to $3.89 after Nasdaq decided to suspend trading in the stock effective 11/8.

Shares of Infinera Corporation INFN were down 34 percent to $4.135 after the company reported downbeat Q3 sales and issued weak Q4 forecast.

Diplomat Pharmacy, Inc. DPLO was down, falling around 28 percent to $14.74 following Q3 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.74 percent to $61.75 while gold traded up 0.21 percent to $1,228.90.

Silver traded up 0.62 percent Wednesday to $14.59, while copper rose 0.48 percent to $2.7455.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 1.06 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.99 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.42 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.83 percent, and the French CAC 40 jumped 1.24 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.09 percent.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee begins its two-day policy meeting today

Domestic crude supplies climbed 5.8 million barrels for the week ended November 2, the Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts expected a gain of 1.9 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles rose 1.9 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles dropped 3.5 million barrels last week.