Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down Over 1%; Xenetic Biosciences Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.15% to 27295.30 while the NASDAQ fell 0.05% to 8,219.08. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.26% to 2,996.18.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose 0.9% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. - Eletrobrás EBR, up 4%, and PG&E Corporation PCG, up 4%.

In trading on Wednesday, industrial shares fell 1.5%.

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 154% to $2.4399 after the company received a Hong Kong patent for its MapcatSF device.

Shares of Nautilus, Inc. NLS got a boost, shooting up 21% to $2.0950 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 17% to $4.8210 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 51% to $5.35. 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 $38.36 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 33% to $0.2224 after reporting a $2.25 million registered direct offering.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.2% to $56.95, while gold traded up 0.9% to $1,423.40.

Silver traded up 2% Wednesday to $15.985, while copper rose 0.5% to $2.7135.

Euro zone

European shares closed 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 released its Beige Book report.