Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down 3%; La-Z-Boy Shares Gain On Earnings Beat

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.23 percent to 21,418.72 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.56 percent to 6,222.96. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.08 percent to 2,435.05.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Healthcare shares rose by 1.02 percent in the US market on Wednesday. Top gainers in the sector included BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. BDSI, NewLink Genetics Corp NLNK, and ImmunoGen, Inc. IMGN.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 1.39 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Bill Barrett Corporation BBG, down 13 percent, and Superior Energy Services, Inc. SPN, down 12 percent.

Top Headline

CarMax, Inc KMX reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Wednesday.

CarMax posted quarterly earnings of $1.13 per share on revenue of $4.54 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.98 per share on revenue of $4.46 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Winnebago Industries, Inc. WGO shares shot up 11 percent to $32.45 as the company reported better-tha n-expected results for its third quarter.

Shares of La-Z-Boy Incorporated LZB got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $31.30 as the company posted better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Red Hat Inc RHT shares were also up, gaining 10 percent to $99.14 after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter and raised its guidance for the year. Stifel upgraded Red Hat from Hold to Buy.

Equities Trading DOWN

CIRCOR International, Inc. CIR shares dropped 12 percent to $56.36. Seaport Global Securities downgraded CIRCOR from Neutral to Sell.

Shares of Bill Barrett Corporation BBG were down 13 percent to $2.87. Seaport Global downgraded Bill Barrett from Hold to Sell.

Basic Energy Services, Inc. BAS was down, falling around 11 percent to $21.31. Seaport Global Securities downgraded Basic Energy Services from Buy to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 3.01 percent to $42.20 while gold traded up 0.22 percent to $1,246.20.

Silver traded down 0.34 percent Wednesday to $16.42, while copper rose 1.36 percent to $2.607.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.18 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.05 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 1.26 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.32 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.37 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.33 percent.

Economics

The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity rose 0.6 percent for the latest week.

Existing home sales rose 1.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.62 million for May. However, economists were expecting a 5.60 million rate.

Domestic crude supplies dropped 2.54 million barrels for the week ended June 16, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a slide of 2 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles slipped 578,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles gained 1.08 million barrels last week.