Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; General Mills Earnings Top Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.48 percent to 18,216.83 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.57 percent to 5,271.16. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.51 percent to 2,150.58.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, basic materials shares gained 1.25 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Huntsman Corporation HUN, and AngloGold Ashanti Limited (ADR) AU.

In trading on Wednesday, healthcare shares rose by just 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc PCRX, down 6 percent, and West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. WST, down 6 percent.

Top Headline

General Mills, Inc. GIS reported better than expected adjusted earnings for the first quarter. The company also reaffirmed its full year forecast.

The company reported net earnings of $409 million, or $0.67 a share, for the first quarter. This represented 3 percent drop from $0.69 a share recorded in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, the company would have earned $0.78 a share topping the Street estimates of $0.75 a share.

General Mills' net sales dipped 7.1 percent from $4.21 billion to $3.91 billion and came in line with the analysts' expectations.

Equities Trading UP

Conn's Inc CONN shares shot up 16 percent to $11.82. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Conn's from Hold to Buy.

Shares of Eleven Biotherapeutics Inc EBIO got a boost, shooting up 12 percent to $3.77. Eleven Biotherapeutics disclosed that it has acquired Viventia Bio.

Adobe Systems Incorporated ADBE shares were also up, gaining 6 percent to $106.59 after the company posted better-than-expected results for its third quarter and issued a strong forecast for the current quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Mirna Therapeutics Inc MIRN shares dropped 23 percent to $1.90 as the company disclosed that it has decided to close the Phase 1 clinical study of MRX34. Oppenheimer downgraded Mirna Therapeutics from Outperform to Perform.

Shares of Mast Therapeutics Inc MSTX were down 79 percent to $0.122 after the company announced its phase-3 EPIC trial of vepoloxamer for the treatment of sickle cell disease patients experiencing vaso-occlusive crisis failed to meet its primary efficacy endpoint.

CareDx Inc CDNA was down, falling around 10 percent to $3.87. CareDx priced its 2.25 million share offering at $4 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.09 percent to $44.97 while gold traded up 0.76 percent to $1,328.20.

Silver traded up 2.17 percent Wednesday to $ 19.70, while copper fell 0.46 percent to $2.16.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.60 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.94 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.16 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.60 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.63 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.14 percent.

Economics

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET, while the Fed Chair Janet Yellen will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.