Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Lennar Beats Q3 Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 1.14% to 26270.15 while the NASDAQ fell 1.21% to 7813.32. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.19% to 2905.18.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares slipped by just 0.3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Clipper Realty Inc. CLPR, up 2%, and Griffin Industrial Realty, Inc. GRIF, up 1.5%.

In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares fell 1.6%.

Top Headline

Lennar Corporation LEN reported better-than-expected third-quarter results.

Lennar reported third-quarter earnings of $1.59 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.32. The company reported quarterly sales of $5.857 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $5.49 billion.

McCormick share.


Equities Trading UP

The Stars Group Inc. TSG shares shot up 33% to $20.40 after the company announced an all-stock merger with Flutter Entertainment.

Shares of Immuron Limited IMRN got a boost, shooting up 11% to $2.97. The Australian biotech said it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center, or NMRC, to collaborate on the manufacturing and evaluation of anew product designed to protect against traveler'sdiarrhea caused by campylobacter and ETEC pathogens. Immuron, which focuses on developing oral immunotherapies for the prevention and treatment of gut-mediated pathogens, said the Department of Defense has approved funding of $3.7 million for the project.

Naked Brand Group Limited NAKD shares were also up, gaining 25% to $0.0635 on continued momentum from yesterday after the stock had double the volume on seemingly no company-specific news.

Equities Trading DOWN

Savara Inc. SVRA shares tumbled 52% to $1.185 after the company announced FDA response from Type C meeting on molgradex for aPAP development program. Savara said FDA response indicates data provided in briefing package do not provide sufficient evidence of efficacy and safety and did not recommend that the company submit a biologics license application for molgradex.

Shares of United Natural Foods, Inc. UNFI were down 24% to $8.44 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales results. The company also issued FY20 sales guidance below analyst estimates.

Lantheus Holdings, Inc. LNTH was down, falling 21% to $19.00 after the company announced plans to acquire Progenics.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $53.96, while gold traded up 0.2% to $1,492.60.

Silver traded up 0.2% Wednesday to $17.335, while copper fell 0.2% to $2.5545.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.5%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.4%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 1.3%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 1.3%, and the French CAC 40 slipped 1.7% while UK shares fell 2.1%.

Economics

Data on motor vehicle sales for September will be released today.

U.S. private sector employers added 135,000 jobs in September, ADP reported.

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

New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will speak in St La Jolla, CA at 10:50 a.m. ET.