Mid-Day Market Update: Cree Drops Following Weak Guidance; Myomo Shares Surge

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.92% to 26,200.42 while the NASDAQ rose 0.91% to 8,020.51. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.79% to 2,923.53.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer discretionary shares rose 1.6% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Target Corporation TGT, up 18%, and Pinduoduo Inc. PDD, up 14%.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares slipped 0.1%.

Top Headline

Target Corporation TGT reported stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised FY19 EPS guidance.

Target reported second-quarter earnings of $1.82 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.62. The company reported quarterly sales of $18.42 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $18.34 billion. Target raised fiscal year 2019 guidance from $5.75-$6.05 to $5.90-$6.20.

Equities Trading UP

SemiLEDs Corporation LEDS shares shot up 48% to $3.3549 after the company announced that Xian Chang Ma would buy 680,000 of the company shares at $3 per share.

Shares of Myomo, Inc. MYO got a boost, shooting up 18% to $0.8360 after the company announced a technology licensing program for its MyoPro in international markets.

Waitr Holdings Inc. WTRH shares were also up, gaining 25% to $1.7201 after Tilman Fertitta a company director bought 1 million shares at $1.43 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

American Resources Corporation AREC shares tumbled 41% to $1.2476 after the company reported proposed public offering of common stock and warrants.

Shares of Cree, Inc. CREE were down 13% to $50.57 after the company issued Q1 EPS and sales guidance below analyst estimates.

MSG Networks Inc. MSGN was down, falling 12% to $14.78 after the company reported downbeat Q4 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.1% to $56.18, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,514.40.

Silver traded down 0.4% Wednesday to $17.085, while copper fell 0.1% to $2.577.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 1.1%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.94%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.66%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 1.12%, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.49% while UK shares rose 1.08%.

Economics

U.S. existing home sales rose 2.5% to an annual rate of 5.42 million in July. Economists were expecting a 5.39 million rate.

U.S. crude supplies dropped 2.7 million barrels for the week ended August 16, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a fall of 3.1 million barrels. Inventories of gasoline rose 300,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles gained 2.6 million barrels last week.

The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.