Mid-Day Market Update: Plantronics Drops Following Downbeat Q2 Results; Constellation Pharmaceuticals Shares Climb

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.20% to 27437.19 while the NASDAQ fell 0.53% to 8,389.76. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.20% to 3,068.45.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares climbed 0.5% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CNST, up 95%, and Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. AQST, up 22%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 2.4%.

Top Headline

CVS Health Corporation CVS reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter and raised its FY19 earnings guidance.

CVS Health reported quarterly earnings of $1.84 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.77 per share. The company posted quarterly sales of $64.81 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $63 billion.

CVS Health raised its FY19 adjusted EPS forecast from $6.89-$7.00 to $6.97-$7.05.

Equities Trading UP

Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CNST shares shot up 90% to $28.06 after the company reported Q3 results.

Shares of Venator Materials PLC VNTR got a boost, shooting up 30% to $3.7950 after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 EPS and sales results.

comScore, Inc. SCOR shares were also up, gaining 31% to $3.2741 following Q3 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Fluidigm Corporation FLDM shares tumbled 51% to $2.4860 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 sales results.

Shares of Plantronics, Inc. PLT were down 41% to $23.46 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 EPS and sales results.

Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SUPN was down, falling 31% to $20.00 after the company reported downbeat Q3 results. The P301 trial of SPN-810 to treat impulsive aggression in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in patients 6-11 did not meet the primary endpoint, according toSupernus Pharmaceuticals.
 

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 1.6% to $56.32, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,491.50.

Silver traded down 0.1% Wednesday to $17.55, while copper fell 1.4% to $2.664.

Euro zone


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

Economics

U.S. nonfarm productivity declined by an annualized 0.3% in the third quarter, versus a revised 2.5% growth in the prior three-month period. Unit labour costs increased an annualized 3.6% in the third quarter.

U.S. crude supplies gained 7.9 million barrels for the week ended November 1, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a rise of 2.7 million barrels. Gasoline supplies fell 2.8 million barrels, while distillate supplies slipped 600,000 barrels last week.

The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker is set to speak in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 3:15 p.m. ET.

New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will speak in New York at 6:30 p.m. ET.