Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Surges Over 150 Points; Avinger Shares Plunge

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.53% to 28875.05 while the NASDAQ rose 0.32% to 9,298.91. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.35% to 3,287.83.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrial shares climbed 1.2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Roadrunner Transportation Systems Inc RRTS, up 20%, and General Electric Company GE, up 11%.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate shares fell 0.5%.

Top Headline

General Electric Company 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 CNAT shares shot up 20% to $0.4890 after the company and Histogen entered into a definitive merger agreement.

Shares of Hepion Pharmaceuticals Inc HEPA got a boost, shooting up 33% to $6.63 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.

Accuray Incorporated ARAY shares were also up, gaining 16% to $4.37 following upbeat quarterly results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Avinger, Inc. AVGR shares tumbled 24% to $0.659. Avinger priced its 6.4 million share underwritten public offering of common stock at $0.70 per share.

Shares of Martin Midstream Partners L.P. MMLP were down 26% to $2.67 after the company reported Q4 results and issued 2020 forecast.

BioPharmX Corporation BPMX was down, falling 30% to $0.5474. Biopharmx announced a definitive reverse merger agreement with Timber Pharma, a privately-held biopharma focused on the development of treatments for orphan dermatologic diseases. Upon completion of the merger, BioPharmX will change its name to Timber Pharma.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $53.36, while gold traded u 0.1% to $1,570.40.

Silver traded down 0.1% Wednesday to $17.455, while copper fell 0.6% to $2.5645.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.36%, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.53%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.32% Meanwhile, the German DAX gained 0.05%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.40% while UK shares rose 0.11%.

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.

U.S. crude supplies climbed 3.5 million barrels for the week ended January 24, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 1.4 million barrels. Gasoline supplies rose 1.2 million barrels, while distillate stocks slipped 1.3 million barrels for the week.

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.