Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down 3.8%; Monogram Residential Trust Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.01 percent to 21,477.23 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.63 percent to 6,148.68. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.12 percent to 2,432.00.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Technology shares rose by 2.14 percent in the US market on Wednesday. Top gainers in the sector included LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) LPL, and Pixelworks, Inc. PXLW.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 1.59 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. TOO, down 15 percent, and Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc CRZO, down 10 percent.

Top Headline

Worldpay Group Plc agreed to be acquired by Vantiv Inc VNTV in a deal worth 7.7 billion pounds ($9.95 billion), excluding debt.

Worldpay's shareholders will receive a total of 3.85 pounds a share, representing a premium of 18.9 percent over its closing price on Monday.

Equities Trading UP

Monogram Residential Trust Inc MORE shares shot up 22 percent to $11.92. Greystar led fund agreed to acquire Monogram Residential Trust for $12.00 per share in cash.

Shares of Celsion Corporation CLSN got a boost, shooting up 25 percent to $2.53 following completion of OVATION study.

Precipio Inc PRPO shares were also up, gaining 65 percent to $19.91 after the company announced an agreement with Clearbridge Health for liquid biopsy and diagnostic services in Asia.

Equities Trading DOWN

Diebold Nixdorf Inc DBD shares dropped 21 percent to $22.10 as the company lowered its FY17 outlook.

Shares of O'Reilly Automotive Inc ORLY were down 19 percent to $179.34 following disappointing comparable store sales report for the second quarter. O'Reilly same store sales for the quarter rose 1.7 percent.

Advance Auto Parts, Inc. AAP was down, falling around 11 percent to $105.32 following disappointing same store sales report from O'Reilly.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 3.8 percent to $45.29 while gold traded up 0.28 percent to $1,222.60.

Silver traded down 1.07 percent Wednesday to $15.92, while copper fell 1.26 percent to $2.659.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.18 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.41 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.44 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.13 percent, and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.10 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.14 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Sales Index rose 0.7 percent in June versus May.

U.S. factory orders dropped 0.80 percent for May, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.50 percent decline.

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