Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Snap Rises After Strong Q2 Results; Healthcare Services Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.42% to 27235.18 while the NASDAQ rose 0.5% to 8292.71. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.24% to 3012.72.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares rose 0.8% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Jiayin Group Inc. JFIN, up 20%, and Navient Corporation NAVI, up 11%.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer staples shares fell 0.7%.

Top Headline

Caterpillar CAT reported downbeat earnings for its second quarter.

Caterpillar reported second-quarter earnings of $2.83 per share, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $3.12. The company reported quarterly sales of $14.432 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $14.44 billion by 0.06%.

Equities Trading UP

SigmaTron International, Inc. SGMA shares shot up 21% to $3.20 after the company reported Q4 results.

Shares of Snap Inc. SNAP got a boost, shooting up 18% to $17.45 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results. The company also issued Q3 sales guidance above analyst estimates and an increase in daily active users from Q2 last year.

Teradyne, Inc. TER shares were also up, gaining 18% to $56.71 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results. The company also issued Q3 EPS and sales guidance on the high end of analyst estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

Healthcare Services Group, Inc. HCSG shares tumbled 22% to $23.41 after reporting downbeat Q2 results.

Shares of iRobot Corporation IRBT were down 17% to $74.67 after the company reported Q2 EPS and sales results down from last year. The company also issued FY19 sales guidance below analyst estimates.

Tupperware Brands Corporation TUP was down, falling 18% to $14.68 after the company reported downbeat Q2 results and lowered its guidance.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.4% to $55.99, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,423.40.

Silver traded up 1% Wednesday to $16.635, while copper rose 0.4% to $2.711.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.05%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.52%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.57%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.26%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.22% while UK shares fell 0.73%.

Economics

The IHS Markit flash U.S. services PMI increased to 52.2 in July versus 51.5, while manufacturing PMI slipped to 50.0 in July versus 50.6.

New home sales increased 7% to 646,000 last month.

U.S. crude supplies dropped 10.8 million barrels for the week ended July 19, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a fall of 4.4 million barrels.