Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; General Mills Tops Q4 Expectations

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.47 percent to 21,411.76 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.41 percent to 6,172.09. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.57 percent to 2,433.10.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Basic materials shares rose by 1.11 percent in the US market on Wednesday. Top gainers in the sector included Koppers Holdings Inc. KOP, OMNOVA Solutions Inc. OMN, and Domtar Corp (USA) UFS.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares rose by just 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) KEP, down 1.5 percent, and Companhia de Saneamento Basico (ADR) SBS, down 1 percent.

Top Headline

General Mills, Inc. AVAV posted upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter on Wednesday.

General Mills posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.73 on revenue of $3.81 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.71 on revenue of $3.75 billion.

Equities Trading UP

AirMedia Group Inc (ADR) AMCN shares shot up 12 percent to $2.57 after the company disclosed that it has entered into Amendment No. 3 for going private transaction.

Shares of Invivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp NVIV got a boost, shooting up 7 percent to $2.95 on report of positive INSPIRE study results.

Spectranetics Corp SPNC shares were also up, gaining 26 percent to $38.38. Koninklijke Philips NV (ADR) PHG announced plans to acquire Spectranetics for $38.50 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Global Medical REIT Inc GMRE shares dropped 9 percent to $8.94. Global Medical REIT priced its 3.5 million share common stock offering at $9 per share.

Shares of Meridian Waste Solutions Inc MRDN were down 32 percent to $1.66. Meridian Waste Solutions reported the pricing of its public offering.

EZCORP Inc EZPW was down, falling around 12 percent to $8.02. EZCORP reported a private offering of $125 million of convertible senior notes due 2024.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.41 percent to $44.06 while gold traded up 0.43 percent to $1,252.20.

Silver traded up 1.01 percent Wednesday to $16.82, while copper rose 0.09 percent to $2.664.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.03 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.45 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.60 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.17 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.07 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.01 percent.

Economics

The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity declined 6.2 percent for the week ending June 23, 2017.

U.S. trade deficit fell 1.8 percent to $65.9 billion in May. Wholesale inventories rose 0.3 percent in May.

The pending home sales index declined 0.8 percent for May, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.8 percent growth.

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

The Treasury is set to auction 7-year bills at 1:00 p.m. ET.