Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; Apple Tops Q3 Estimates

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.19% to 27250.34 while the NASDAQ rose 0.26% to 8295.49. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.04% to 3,014.24.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 0.5% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NexPoint Residential Trust, Inc. NXRT, up 6%, and Franklin Street Properties Corp. FSP, up 6%.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer staples shares fell 0.4%.

Top Headline

Apple Inc. AAPL reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter and issued strong fourth-quarter sales guidance on Tuesday.

Earnings came in at $2.18, beating estimates by 8 cents. Sales came in at $53.8 billion, beating estimates by $400 million. The company issued strong fourth-quarter sales guidance.

Equities Trading UP

Enphase Energy, Inc. ENPH shares shot up 30% to $28.20 after the company reported upbeat Q2 results.

Shares of Quad/Graphics, Inc. QUAD got a boost, shooting up 22% to $10.53 after reporting upbeat Q2 earnings.

Unisys Corporation UIS shares were also up, gaining 21% to $12.69 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 sales results and Q2 EPS higher from last year.

Equities Trading DOWN

2U, Inc. TWOU shares tumbled 56% to $16.01 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 EPS results. The company also issued Q3 and FY19 EPS guidance below analyst estimates and multiple firms downgraded the stock.

Shares of Castlight Health, Inc. CSLT were down 41% to $1.7701 after the company reported downbeat Q2 results and issued weak FY19 forecast.

Sigma Labs, Inc. SGLB was down, falling 40% to $0.7535. Sigma Labs priced 2.875 million share common stock offering at $0.80 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.8% to $58.54, while gold traded up 0.1% to $1,442.10.

Silver traded down 0.7% Wednesday to $16.45, while copper rose 0.1% to $2.68.

Euro zone

European shares were mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.5%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.3%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.2% while UK shares fell 0.5%.

Economics

Private-sector employers added 156,000 jobs in July, payroll processor ADP reported. However, economists were projecting an increase of 155,000 jobs. ADP revised June's employment change from an initial 102,000 jobs to 112,000 jobs.

The employment cost index rose 0.6% for the second quarter.

The Chicago PMI fell to 44.4 in July, compared to a reading of 49.7 in June. However, economists were expecting a reading of 50.5.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Data on farm prices for June will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.