Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up 1%; Tech Data Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.02% to 27018.11 while the NASDAQ fell 0.32% to 8,122.93. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.!6% to 2,990.97.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Consumer Discretionary shares climbed 0.5% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Tenneco Inc. TEN, up 9%, and Puxin Limited NEW, up 8%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 1%.

Top Headline

Bank of America Corporation BAC reported better-than-expected Q3 results.

Bank of America reported third-quarter earnings of 56 cents per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 51 cents. The company reported sales of $22.8 billion, versus expectations of $22.79 billion.


Equities Trading UP

Viveve Medical, Inc. VIVE shares shot up 71% to $6.51 after surging 16.21% on Tuesday.

Shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ACHN surged 70% to $6.20. Alexion Pharma ALXN will buy Achillion Pharma for the initial value of $930 million, or $6.30 per share in cash plus added contingent considerations for total potential value of $8.30 per share.

Tech Data Corporation TECD was up, rising 13% to $125.62 after Apollo reportedly offered to acquire the company for $5 billion.

Equities Trading DOWN

Workday, Inc. WDAY shares tumbled 12% to $159.04 following the company's Tuesday analyst day. Bernstein said the company's focus on innovation and R&D spending is a long-term positive but could pressure margins near term. Other firms lowered their price targets.

Shares of Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. SES were down 22% to $7.46 despite no company-specific news. The stock has dropped approximately 53% over the past 2 days.

American Vanguard Corporation AVD was down, falling 14% to $13.25 after the company reported weak preliminary sales for the third quarter.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 1% to $53.33, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,492.3.

Silver traded up 0.1% Wednesday to $17.40, while copper fell 1.1% to $2.5865.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.14%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.33%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.28%. Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.32%, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.09% while UK shares fell 0.61%

Economics

U.S. retail sales fell 0.3% for September, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3% increase.

U.S. business inventories were unchanged for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2% rise.

The NAHB housing market index rose to 71 in October, versus prior reading of 68. However, economists were expecting a reading of 68.

The Federal Open Market Committee released its Beige Book report.

The Treasury International Capital report for August is schedule for release at 4:00 p.m. ET.