Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; General Mills Earnings Beat Expectations

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.09% to 28291.96 while the NASDAQ rose 0.10% to 8,832.16. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.05% to 3,194.23.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Communication services shares climbed 0.6% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Fluent Inc FLNT, up 13%, and Intelsat SA I, up 9%.

In trading on Wednesday, materials shares fell 0.5%.

Top Headline

General Mills, Inc. GIS reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

General Mills reported second-quarterly earnings of 95 cents per share on Wednesday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 88 cents. The company reported quarterly sales of $4.42 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $4.43 billion.

General Mills reaffirmed its full-year fiscal 2020 targets for sales, profit, and EPS, and raised its target for free cash flow conversion.

Equities Trading UP

Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. MIRM shares shot up 41% to $23.17. • Mirum Pharmaceuticals shares climbed 111% on Monday after the company announced it completed a successful pre-NDA meeting with the FDA for its Maralixibat.

Shares of Neoleukin Therapeutics, Inc. NLTX got a boost, shooting up 19% to $10.95. Neoleukin Therapeutics priced its 8.925 million share public offering at $8.40 per share.

Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SYRS shares were also up, gaining 16% to $5.35 after the company announced it has entered to in a collaboration agreement with Global Blood Therapeutics to discover, develop, and commercialize novel therapies for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. GBT will pay Syros $20 million upfront and fund up to $40 million in preclinical research for at least three years.

Equities Trading DOWN

Qiwi plc QIWI shares tumbled 12% to $18.76 after the company named Boris Kim as CEO, effective January 15. QIWI appointed Maria Shevchenko as Deputy CEO.

Shares of Akorn, Inc. AKRX were down 15% to $2.58.

Solid Biosciences Inc. SLDB was down, falling 11% to $4.285 after the company the company reported results from its Phase 1/2 study of SGT-001 that showed the candidate has the potential to provide therapeutic benefit for patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.7% to $60.53, while gold traded down 0.2% to $1,478.20.

Silver traded down 0.4% Wednesday to $17.00, while copper fell 0.5% to $2.7985.

Euro zone


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

Economics

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

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans will speak at 12:40 p.m. ET.