Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Fed Hikes Interest Rates; Wolverine Bancorp Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.10 percent to 21,351.11 while the NASDAQ declined 0.10 percent to 6,213.98. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.02 percent to 2,439.80.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector was the top gainer in the US market on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 1.72 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included SM Energy Co SM, down 11 percent, and Whiting Petroleum Corp WLL, down 11 percent.

Top Headline

H & R Block Inc HRB reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.24 per share on Tuesday.

H & R Block reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $3.76 per share on revenue of $2.328 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $3.53 per share on sales of $2.32 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Medical Transcription Billing Corp MTBC shares shot up 20 percent to $1.85 following the release of a PR announcing the launch of MTBC WebSoft.

Shares of WOLVERINE BANCORP, INC. WBKC got a boost, shooting up 25 percent to $39.11. Horizon Bancorp HBNC announced plans to merge with Wolverine Bancorp.

Neuroderm Ltd NDRM shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $28.60. Oppenheimer upgraded NeuroDerm from Perform to Outperform.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc ALDX shares dropped 10 percent to $4.61 after the company disclosed that its Phase 2b trial did not meet primary endpoint.

Shares of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. HA were down 10 percent to $49.00. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Hawaiian from Hold to Sell and lowered the price target from $60.00 to $40.00.

Liberty Tax Inc TAX was down, falling around 11 percent to $11.57 after the company reported weak Q4 earnings.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 3.66 percent to $44.76 while gold traded up 0.62 percent to $1,276.50.

Silver traded up 2.28 percent Wednesday to $17.15, while copper fell 1.29 percent to $2.563.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.30 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.98 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.61 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.32 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.35 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.35 percent.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index dropped 0.10 percent for May, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.10 percent growth.

U.S. retail sales declined 0.30 percent for May, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.10 percent gain.

U.S. business inventories declined 0.20 percent in April, compared to economists’ expectations for a 0.20 percent drop.

Domestic crude supplies dropped 1.66 million barrels for the week ended June 9, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Gasoline stockpiles gained 2.1 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles increased 328,000 barrels last week.

The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate to 1 percent-1.25 percent. Fed also expects one additional rate hike this year.