Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Fed Tapers Another $10B; Will Purchase $15B/Month Of MBS & $20B Per Month Of Treasuries

In the final hour of trrading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.40 percent to 16,769.00 while the NASDAQ increased 0.37 percent to 4,353.27. The S&P gained 0.54 percent to 1,952.56.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Wednesday, the utilities sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Korea Electric Power KEP and Pure Cycle PCYO.

In trading on Wednesday, financial shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.24 percent. Top losers in the sector included IRSA Investments and Representations IRS, down 3.2 percent, and OceanFirst Financial OCFC, off 2.5 percent.

Top Headline

The Federal Reserve tapered its monthly purchases by a total of $10B and kept it's benchmark rate unchanged at 0-25 bps. The Central Bank also issued expectations of continued contraction in the unemployment rate along with increases in inflation over the next two years. Inflation is still below expected levels.

Equities Trading UP

Insmed INSM shares shot up 40.31 percent to $17.49 after the company announced that the FDA granted Arikayce breakthrough therapy designation.

Shares of Adobe Systems ADBE got a boost, shooting up 8.17 percent to $73.06 after the company reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings. Adobe reported its adjusted earnings of $0.37 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.30 per share.

Air Products & Chemicals APD shares were also up, gaining 7.17 percent to $130.32 after the company named Rockwood's Seifi Ghasemi as its new chairman, president and CEO.

Equities Trading DOWN

Shares of La-Z-Boy LZB were 8.62 percent to $22.70 after the company reported downbeat fourth-quarter revenue. The company also announced its plans to stop production at Hudson plant this year. Its same-store sales declined 0.9% in the quarter, versus an 11.2% gain in the year-ago quarter.

NGL Energy Partners LP NGL shares tumbled 7.14 percent to $42.41 after the company priced an offering of 8 million shares at $43.85 per share.

ConAgra Foods CAG was down, falling 7.34 percent to $30.44 after the company lowered its forecast and said it would miss Q4 estimates.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.15 percent to $105.71, while gold traded down 0.09 percent to $1,273.10.

Silver traded up 0.45 percent Wednesday to $19.82, while copper fell 0.13 percent to $3.07.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today.

The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.08 percent, the Spanish IBEX Index gained 0.49 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.15 percent.

Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.10 percent and the French CAC 40 fell 0.33 percent while UK shares gained 0.17 percent.

Economics

The MBA reported that its index of mortgage application activity dropped 9.20% in the week ended June 13.

The US current account deficit rose to $111.20 billion in the first quarter, versus $87.30 billion in the fourth quarter. However, economists were expecting a deficit of $97.0 billion.

Crude inventories fell 579,000 barrels in the week ended June 13, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting for a decline of 1.4 million barrels.