Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; Paychex Profit Tops Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.19 percent to 20,662.47 while the NASDAQ rose 0.12 percent to 5,882.10. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.07 percent to 2,357.00.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Broadwind Energy Inc. BWEN and Scorpio Tankers Inc. STNG.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 0.55 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included SCANA Corporation SCG, down 2 percent, and Cia Energetica de Minas Gerais CEMIG-ADR CIG, down 2 percent.

Top Headline

Paychex, Inc. PAYX reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter on Wednesday.

Paychex posted Q3 earnings of $0.56 per share on revenue of $795.8 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.54 per share on revenue of $799.0 million.

Equities Trading UP

Innocoll Holdings PLC INNL shares shot up 42 percent to $1.53 after the company reported that it has received formal FDA Type A Meeting minutes related to XARACOLL NDA.

Shares of Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. TNXP got a boost, shooting up 86 percent to $7.69. Tonix Pharma will present the FDA Breakthrough Therapy-designated PTSD program at The MicroCap Conference on April 4, 2017.

Exar Corporation EXAR shares were also up, gaining 23 percent to $13.01 after the company agreed to be acquired by MaxLinear, Inc. MXL for $13 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

MoSys Inc. MOSY shares dropped 15 percent to $2.09 as the company posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss.

Shares of Atossa Genetics Inc ATOS were down around 24 percent to $0.830 after the company reported the pricing of its $4,000,000 public offering.

Quorum Health Corp QHC was down, falling around 13 percent to $5.53 after the company posted disappointing Q4 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.23 percent to $48.48 while gold traded down 0.17 percent to $1,256.60.

Silver traded down 0.37 percent Wednesday to $18.19, while copper fell 0.39 percent to $2.67.

Eurozone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.08 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.50 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.39 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.51 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.21 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.05 percent.

Economics

The pending home sales index increased 5.5 percent for February, versus economists’ expectations for a 2.4 percent growth

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren will speak in Boston at 11:30 a.m. ET.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in New York at 1:15 p.m. ET.

The Treasury will auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.