Mid-Day Market Update: Concrete Pumping Falls On Weak Q4 Results; Fluent Shares Jump

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.56% to 29100.92 while the NASDAQ rose 0.47% to 9294.75. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.40% to 3,296.37.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares climbed 1.3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PG&E Corporation PCG, up 7%, and Sunnova Energy International Inc NOVA, up 3%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 0.6%.

Top Headline

Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.

Goldman Sachs Group reported fourth-quarter earnings of $4.69 per share Wednesday, missing the Street estimate of $5.46. The company reported quarterly sales of $9.96 billion, beating the Street estimate of $8.51 billion.

Goldman Sachs reported fourth-quarter investment banking revenue of $7.6 billion, down 7% year-over-year; global markets revenue that was higher by 2% year-over-year; and flat year-over-year asset management revenue.

Equities Trading UP

Fluent, Inc. FLNT shares shot up 45% to $3.17 after the company issued Q4 and FY20 sales guidance above analyst estimates.

Shares of Cemtrex, Inc. CETX got a boost, shooting up 96% to $2.31 after the company late Tuesday reported a year-over-year increase in FY19 sales and gross profit. The company today announced the receipt of $700,000 in new video surveillance systems orders for municipal buildings.

OrganiGram Holdings Inc. OGI shares were also up, gaining 38% to $2.9880 after the company announced Q1 results. The company reported Q1 sales of $25.2 million, up from $12.4 million in the same quarter last year.

Equities Trading DOWN

Nektar Therapeutics NKTR shares tumbled 17% to $23.32 after the FDA AdCom panel voted unanimously against approval of the company's Oxycodegol painkiller.

Shares of Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. ACOR were down 14% to $2.02 after the company issued preliminary FY19 total net product revenue guidance of roughly $178 million, and FY20 sales at $130 million-$160 million versus the $143.9 million estimate.

Concrete Pumping Holdings, Inc. BBCP was down, falling 8% to $5.14 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales results.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8% to $57.78, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,552.50.

Silver traded up 1.3% Wednesday to $17.975, while copper fell 0.6% to $2.8555.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.01%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.17%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.69% Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.18%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.14% while UK shares rose 0.27%.

Economics

The Producer Price Index rose 0.1% for December, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2% increase.

The Empire State manufacturing index rose to 4.8 in January, versus prior reading of 3.5. However, analysts expected a reading of 3.55.

U.S. crude supplies dropped 2.5 million barrels for the week ended January 10, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 500,000 barrels. Gasoline supplies rose 6.7 million barrels, while distillates supplies increased 8.2 million barrels for the week.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release its Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.