Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; Boeing Misses Q1 Estimates

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.04 percent to 26666.34 while the NASDAQ gained 0.08 percent to 8,127.20. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.04 percent to 2,934.90.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the real estate shares rose 1 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust PEI up 4 percent, and New Senior Investment Group Inc. SNR up 4 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 1 percent.

Top Headline

Boeing Co BA reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.

Boeing said it earned $3.16 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $22.917 billion, which represents a miss on the top and bottom lines.

Boeing's management said it can no longer offer 2019 guidance due to the "uncertainty of the timing and conditions" relating to the 737 Max fleet after the plane was involved in two fatal crashes. The company plans on issuing new guidance "at a future date." In addition, the company will pause its ongoing stock buyback program due to uncertainty related to the 737 Max.

Boeing said it's "making steady progress" towards a final certification for a software update to be used in 737 Max planes. The company has already completed 135 test and production flights of the software update.

Equities Trading UP

Speedway Motorsports, Inc. TRK shares got a boost, shooting up 34 percent to $18.61 after Sonic Financial Corporation submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire Speedway at $18 per share in cash.

Shares of Entegra Financial Corp. ENFC shot up 25 percent to $29.45 after First-Citizens Bank & Trust reported plans to buy Entegra Financial for $30.18 per share in cash.

Silicon Laboratories Inc. SLAB shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $104.34 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales. The company issued strong Q2 EPS and sales.

Equities Trading DOWN

iRobot Corporation IRBT shares dropped 21 percent to $103.82. iRobot upbeat earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed estimates. The company raised 2019 earnings guidance.

Shares of K12 Inc. LRN were down 15 percent to $30.86 after the company reported Q3 results.

Huami Corporation HMI was down, falling around 11 percent to $11.06 after reporting proposed follow-on public offering of American Depositary Shares.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2 percent to $66.17 while gold traded up 0.1 percent to $1,274.70.

Silver traded up 0.3 percent Wednesday to $14.84, while copper rose 0.3 percent to $2.909.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.2 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 1 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.4 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.6 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.8 percent.

Economics

U.S. crude-oil inventories rose 5.479 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration reported. U.S. gasoline supplies slipped 2.129 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles declined 662,000 barrels last week.

The Treasury is set to auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.