Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; General Mills Earnings Top Estimates

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.70 percent to 23,841.40 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.34 percent to 6,844.44. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.75 percent to 2,565.28.


Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the materials shares climbed 1.4 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Koppers Holdings Inc. KOP up 13 percent, and Harmony Gold Mining Co. HMY up 6 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate shares fell 0.1 percent.


Top Headline

General Mills, Inc. GIS reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

General Mills reported quarterly earnings of $0.85 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $0.82. The company reported quarterly sales of $4.411 billion which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $4.52 billion.


Equities Trading UP

Adial Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ADIL shares got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $3.41 after the company announced an amendment to its license agreement with the University of Virgia Licensing & Ventures Group. The company must commence Phase 3 trial of AD04 for AUD in 2019.

Shares of Aduro BioTech, Inc. ADRO shot up 16 percent to $2.86 after the company announced a research collaboration and license agreement with Eli Lilly to develop novel immunotherapies. Aduro is set to received $12 million upfront.

Civitas Solutions, Inc. CIVI shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $17.56 after the company reported a deal to be purchased by Centerbridge at $17.75 per share in cash.

 

Equities Trading DOWN


Surface Oncology, Inc. SURF shares dropped 34 percent to $4.92 after the company late Tuesday reported a 'significant' reduction in investment in the SRF231 program.

Shares of Optical Cable Corporation OCC were down 9 percent to $3.50. Optical Cable posted a Q4 loss of $0.05 per share on sales of $20.3 million.

FTS International, Inc. FTSI was down, falling around 15 percent to $6.96. Credit Suisse downgraded FTS International from Outperform to Neutral and lowered the price target from $15 to $8.

 

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.39 percent to $46.42 while gold traded down 0.16 percent to $1,251.60.


Silver traded up 0.16 percent Wednesday to $14.725, while copper rose 0.47 percent to $2.677.

 

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.44 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index surged 0.87 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 1.76 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.63 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.63 percent while U.K. shares rose 1 percent.

Economics

The U.S. current-account deficit increased to $124.8 billion in the third quarter, versus a revised $101.2 billion in the second quarter.

Existing home sales rose 1.9 percent at an annual rate of 5.32 million for November. However, economists were expecting a 5.15 million rate.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Morning Market Update
We simplify the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!

Loading...