Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Dicks Sporting Goods Profit Beats Estimates

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.61 percent to 24,898.93 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.43 percent to 7,113.00. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.27 percent to 2,689.29.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the information technology shares climbed 0.8 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Cheetah Mobile Inc CMCM up 26 percent, and Nutanix Inc NTNX up 8 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, materials shares fell 0.5 percent.

Top Headline

Dicks Sporting Goods Inc DKS reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed estimates. The company also raised its earnings forecast for 2018.

Dicks Sporting posted quarterly earnings of $0.30 per share on time charter revenues of $1.857 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.26 per share on revenue of $1.88 billion.

Dicks Sporting now expects FY18 earnings of $3.15 to $3.25 per share, versus previous forecast of $3.02 to $3.20 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Gaming Partners International Corporation GPIC shares got a boost, shooting up 69 percent to $13.2074 after the company agreed to be acquired by Angel Holdings for $110 million.

Shares of Ooma, Inc. OOMA shot up 17 percent to $15.86 after the company reported upbeat Q3 results.

Atkore International Group Inc. ATKR shares were also up, gaining 17 percent to $20.99. Atkore International posted Q4 adjusted earnings of $0.79 per share on sales of $477.567 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Chico's FAS, Inc. CHS shares dropped 38 percent to $4.5693 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q3 results.

Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. PTGX were down 19 percent to $5.68. Protagonist Therapeutics disclosed that PN-10943 for inflammatory bowel disease showed 'greater potency and target engagement in preclinical studies as compared to PTG-100.'

Tiffany & Co. TIF was down, falling around 11 percent to $93.81 after the company reported downbeat third-quarter sales.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.35 percent to $51.74 while gold traded down 0.02 percent to $1,219.60.

Silver traded up 0.24 percent Wednesday to $14.255, while copper rose 1.08 percent to $2.7555.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.27 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.51 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index surged 0.20 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.18 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.36 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.01 percent.

Economics

U.S. economy expanded at an annual pace of 3.5 percent for the third quarter. However, economists were expecting a 3.5 percent growth rate.

U.S. exports declined 4.4 percent during the third quarter, while imports increased 9.2 percent.

U.S. new home sales declined 8.9 percent at an annual rate of 544,000 for October. However, economists were expecting a 553,000 pace.

The Richmond Fed manufacturing index declined to 14.00 for November, versus prior reading of 15.00. Economists expected a reading of 16.00.

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

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is set to speak in New York at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.