Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Greenbrier Rises On Upbeat Results; Unilife Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.74 percent to 20,842.08 while the NASDAQ rose 0.56 percent to 5,931.37. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.66 percent to 2,375.73.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the industrial sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Plug Power Inc PLUG and Envirostar Inc EVI.

In trading on Wednesday, telecommunications services shares rose by just 0.03 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (ADR) IIJI, down 4 percent, and DigitalGlobe Inc DGI, down 2 percent.

Top Headline

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA reported in-line earnings for its second quarter, while sales missed estimates. Walgreens also announced a $1 billion buyback plan.

Walgreens reported Q2 adjusted earnings of $1.36 per share on revenue of $29.4 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $1.36 per share on revenue of $30.24 billion. The company also expects to close around 60 more stores.

Equities Trading UP

Plug Power Inc PLUG shares shot up 75 percent to $2.27 following a deal with Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN. Plug Power signed a $70 million agreement with Amazon.

Shares of Panera Bread Co PNRA got a boost, shooting up 14 percent to $312.29 after the company agreed to be acquired by JAB for $7.5 billion.

Greenbrier Companies Inc GBX shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $47.55 after the company reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Unilife Corp UNIS shares dropped 76 percent to $0.295. Unilife reduced its workforce by 51 employees and expects to record charge of $0.6 million.

Shares of Quotient Ltd QTNT were down around 9 percent to $6.05. Quotient priced its 7 million share offering at $6 per share.

OHR Pharmaceutical Inc OHRP was down, falling around 14 percent to $0.663. Ohr Pharma reported an offering common stock & warrants.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.27 percent to $51.17 while gold traded down 0.75 percent to $1,248.90.

Silver traded down 0.64 percent Wednesday to $18.21, while copper rose 2.81 percent to $2.69.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.02 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.40 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.02 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.53 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.18 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.13 percent.

Economics

Private-sector employers added 263,000 jobs in March, versus a revised 245,000 gain in February, ADP reported. However, economists were expecting an addition of 187,000 jobs.

USA Markit services PMI slipped to 52.80 in March, compared to prior reading of 52.90. Economists projected a reading of 53.10.

The ISM non-manufacturing index dropped to 55.20 in March, versus a prior reading of 57.60. Economists were expecting a reading of 57.00.

U.S. crude inventories increased 1.6 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts expected a drop of 435,000 barrels.

The Federal Open Market Committee released minutes of its latest meeting.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Lawrence, Kansas at 8:00 p.m. ET.