Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Flat; General Electric Profit Beats Expectations

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.09% to 28747.99 while the NASDAQ fell 0.1% to 9,259.35. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.03% to 3,275.11.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrial shares climbed 0.7% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Roadrunner Transportation Systems Inc (NYSE: RRTS), up 14%, and General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), up 8%.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services shares fell 0.3%.

Top Headline

General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

General Electric reported quarterly earnings of $0.21 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $0.18 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $26.238 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $25.57 billion.

GE expects FY20 adjusted earnings of $0.50 to $0.60 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $0.66 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: CNAT) shares shot up 25% to $0.51 after the company and Histogen entered into a definitive merger agreement.

Shares of Hepion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: HEPA) got a boost, shooting up 24% to $6.19 after the company announced positive finding from an expanded study of its non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, drug candidate CRV 431 with human precision cut liver slices.

Genprex Inc (NASDAQ: GNPX) shares were also up, gaining 23% to $1.57 after an independent researcher cited TUSC2, which is an active agent in the company's Oncoprex, as a potential target and biomarker for thyroid carcinoma.

Equities Trading DOWN

Martin Midstream Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: MMLP) shares tumbled 29% to $2.57 after the company reported Q4 results and issued 2020 forecast.

Shares of Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) were down 25% to $4.07 after Senators introduced a bill that seeks to limit payout to satellite companies that vacate C-band airwaves, such as Intelsat.

Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBLI) was down, falling 21% to $ 2.20 after dropping 32% on Tuesday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.6% to $53.79, while gold traded u 0.1% to $1,571.00.

Silver traded up 0.2% Wednesday to $17.49, while copper rose 0.3% to $2.5875.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.5%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.7%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.5% Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.1%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.4% while UK shares rose 0.1%.

Economics

U.S. trade deficit in goods climbed 8.5% in December to $68.3 billion.

US wholesale inventories declined 0.1% in December, versus a revised 0.1% gain in the previous month.

The pending home sales index rose 4.6% year-over-year in December.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.