Mid-Day Market Update: Nu Skin Falls On Lowered Guidance; Guardion Health Sciences Shares Jump

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.13% to 27300.45 while the NASDAQ fell 0.04% to 8,219.41. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.22% to 2,997.32.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose 0.6% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. - Eletrobrás EBR, up 4%, and Global Water Resources, Inc. GWRS, up 3%.

In trading on Wednesday, industrial shares fell 1.2%.

Top Headline

Bank of America BAC reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter, while sales missed estimates.

Bank of America reported second-quarter earnings of 74 cents per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 71 cents. The company reported quarterly sales of $23.1 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $23.23 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Guardion Health Sciences, Inc. GHSI shares shot up 151% to $2.41 after the company received a Hong Kong patent for its MapcatSF device.

Shares of Nautilus, Inc. NLS got a boost, shooting up 21% to $2.10 after Imperial Capital upgraded the company's stock from In-Line to Outperform and announced a $4.50 price target.

Anixa Biosciences, Inc. ANIX shares were also up, gaining 20% to $4.95 after the company announced a strategic alliance and licensing agreement with Cleveland Clinic for an innovative breast cancer vaccine technology.

Equities Trading DOWN

Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. XBIO shares tumbled 49% to $5.56. Xenetic Biosciences priced its 2.3 million unit offering at $6.50 per share.

Shares of Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. NUS were down 16% to $38.03 after the company reported worse-than-expected preliminary second-quarter EPS and sales results. The company also cut its sales guidance below analyst estimates. DA Davidson downgraded Nu Skin from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $88 to $38.

Golden Minerals Company AUMN was down, falling 28% to $0.2371 after reporting a $2.25 million registered direct offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $57.26, while gold traded up 1% to $1,424.90.

Silver traded up 1.7% Wednesday to $15.94, while copper rose 0.4% to $2.712.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.37%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.99%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.56%. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.72%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.76% while UK shares fell 0.55%.

Economics

Housing starts fell 0.9% to an annual pace of 1.25 million in June, versus a revised 1.27 million in the previous month. However, economists were expecting a 1.24 million rate. Permits declined 6.1% to an annual pace of 1.22 million last month.

U.S. crude supplies dropped 3.1 million barrels for the week ended July 12, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a decline of 4.2 million barrels. Gasoline inventories rose 3.6 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles rose 5.7 million barrels.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release its Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.