Mid-Day Market Update: Wednesday's Market Movers; US Stocks Down, China Intervenes With Yuan, Kraft Heinz Job Cut, and More!

The Dow Jones Industrial Index was shot down once again 1.18 percent, the S&P 500 dwindled 1.03 percent, the NASDAQ Composite declined 1.21 percent, the US Dollar Index depreciated 0.80 percent, and the crude oil WTI rebounded 1.21 percent in Wednesday’s midday trading session.

The US stock market continued to decline in Wednesday’s session, brought down by batches of disappointing earnings from corporations alongside worries of China’s growth rate; China’s yuan continued to declined for the second straight day, just after devaluing their currency on Tuesday in hopes to boost exports. China intervened to aim the Yuan higher after falling nearly 2 percent in Wednesday’s trading session, its lowest level against the US dollar in four years.

According to the Wall Street Journal, China’s Central Bank, the People’s Bank of China (simply PBOC) announced that the volatility in the yuan’s trading is “normal” and promised to remain the exchange rate “basically stable.” Instead of calming investors down, investors quickly sold the yuan and businesses were converting yuan holdings into dollars. The PBOC then recommended state-owned banks to start selling dollars in the last 15 minutes of trading; resulting in the yuan to increase 1 percent against the dollar just before the close of Chinese markets on Wednesday.

Job openings fell slightly in June to 5.25 million from 5.36 million in May, but overall demand for workers is still strong. About 1.79 million people were laid off in the month of June, up from 1.66 million in May.

The Kraft Heinz Company KHC reported that it would be cutting 2,500 jobs (5 percent of its global workforce) in the United States and Canada as it plans to cut $1.5 billion from its budget. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA reported less than expected Q1 earnings; the tech giant reported sales of $20.25 billion yuan, or $3.27 billion dollars, a 28 percent increase over the last year. Wall Street analysts had expected revenues of $3.39 billion. The growth in sales is much slower than the company’s average groth of 56 percent year over year.

Stocks still continued to rally despite macroeconomic issues:
Winners:
Eleven Biotherapeutics Inc EBIO skyrocketed a whopping 126 percent after the biopharm company reported first patients dosed with EBI-005 in a Phase III study in patients with moderate and severe allergic conjunctivitis. Its EBI-005 drug offers the potential to mediate allergic responses by blocking interleukin-1 receptor.

Echo Therapeutics Inc ECTE soared 24 percent after the company announced that one of its strategic partners, Medical Technologies Innovation Asia, believed that Echo’s local produced needle-free CGM products will be designated as a Class 2 medical device, according to the StreetInsider.com

Wayfair Inc W was lifted 20 percent after beat its earnings expectations; it had sales of $491.75 million, up 66.4 percent year-over-year, versus the projected $439.43 million. The company also reported a loss of $0.15 per share, up from analysts expected loss of $0.29 per share.

Inogen Inc INGN was heightened 19 percent after the medical technology company reported Q2 earnings; it had a net income of $3.5 million, or $0.17 per share on sales of $44 million. Analysts expected earnings of $0.15 per share on sales of $37.1 million.

The Hackett Group Inc HCKT was up 16 percent after the advisory firm reported Q2 earnings of $3.7 million ($0.19 per share) on sales of $66.4 million. Analysts expected earnings of $0.17 per share and sales of $62.3 million.

Losers:
Freshpet Inc FRPT dwindled 12 percent after the fresh food manufacturer missed earnings by $0.01; the company reported a loss of $2.2 million, or $0.07 per share compared to analyst expectations of a $0.05 per share loss.

Vivint Solar Inc VSLR declined 10 percent after the solar energy company reported a loss of $0.85 per share versus analyst expectations of a $0.66 per share loss.

Puma Biotechnology Inc PBYI shot down 8 percent after the biopharmaceutical company reported a loss of $2.01 per share versus analysts expected loss of $1.58 per share. Puma reported a loss of $1.29 per share a year ago.

Viavi Solutions Inc VIAV sank 8 percent after CEO Tom Waechter stepped down from the business, leaving Richard Belluzzo, chairman, as interim CEO. The company also reported $427.7 million in revenues versus expected sales of $538 million.