Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASDAQ Turns Positive; Owens & Minor Shares Jump On Upbeat Earnings

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.35% to 25,937.53 while the NASDAQ rose 0.13% to 7,843.53. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.19% to 2,876.38.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares climbed 0.8% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Farmland Partners Inc. FPI, up 12%, and Marcus & Millichap, Inc. MMI, up 7%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 1.9%.

Top Headline

CVS Health Corp CVS reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and sales results. The company also raised fiscal year 2019 EPS guidance above analyst estimates.

The company reported quarterly earnings of $1.89 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.69 by 11.83%. CVS Health reported quarterly sales of $63.4 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $62.65 billion. CVS Health raised and narrowed FY19 adjusted EPS guidance from $6.75-$6.90 to $6.89-$7.00.

Equities Trading UP

Cambrex Corporation CBM shares shot up 47% to $60.01 after the company agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of the Permira funds for $60.00 per share in cash.

Shares of Weight Watchers International, Inc. WW got a boost, shooting up 40% to $29.43 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 sales results. The company also raised FY19 EPS guidance.

Owens & Minor, Inc. OMI shares were also up, gaining 45% to $4.1190 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Entercom Communications Corp. ETM shares tumbled 39% to $3.20 after the company announced downbeat Q2 results and reported the purchase of Pineapple Street Medi and Cadence13.

Shares of Oasis Petroleum Inc. OAS were down 35% to $2.5001 after the company reported Q2 results. Oasis Petroleum narrowed its FY19 differential guidance from $1.50-$3.50 per barrel to $1.50-$3.00 per barrel.

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. REXN was down, falling 48% to $2.51 after reporting Q2 results. H.C. Wainwright downgraded Rexahn Pharmaceuticals from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $23 to $3.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 4.9% to $50.99, while gold traded up 2.2% to $1,516.50.

Silver traded up 4.5% Wednesday to $17.185, while copper rose 1.1% to $2.5865.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.24%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.54%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.45%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.71%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.61% while UK shares rose 0.38%.

Economics

U.S. crude oil inventories rose 2.4 million barrels for the week ended August 2, the Energy Information Administration reported.