Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Up Over 200 Points; Caesarstone Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.87 percent to 24,572.35 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.97 percent to 7,337.15. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.02 percent to 2,699.28.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the energy shares rose 2.37 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included EP Energy Corporation EPE, up 24 percent, and Penn Virginia Corporation PVAC up 24 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 0.91 percent.


Top Headline

Walmart Inc WMT disclosed that it reached an agreement to acquire 77 percent of India-based Flipkart for $16 billion. The Indian company recorded gross merchandise value of $7.6 billion and net sales of $4.6 billion in its recent fiscal year ended March 31.

The e-commerce giant cautioned the deal would result in a negative impact to its EPS of 25 to 30 cents in fiscal 2019 and a headwind of 60 cents per share in fiscal 2020.


Equities Trading UP

Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. LTRPA shares shot up 30 percent to $12.05 following TripAdvisor Q1 earnings beat.

Shares of ZAGG Inc ZAGG got a boost, shooting up 26 percent to $14.48 after the company posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings.

OPKO Health, Inc. OPK shares were also up, gaining 29 percent to $4.1652 following Q1 beat.


Equities Trading DOWN

Extreme Networks, Inc. EXTR shares dropped 24 percent to $8.95 after the company reported downbeat earnings for its third quarter and issued weak Q4 guidance.

Shares of Caesarstone Ltd. CSTE were down 31 percent to $12.80 after the company reported downbeat Q1 results. The company lowered its FY18 sales forecast and suspended Q2 dividend.

Cutera, Inc. CUTR was down, falling around 27 percent to $40.60 following Q1 miss.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded up 3.2 percent to $71.27 while gold traded down 0.02 percent to $1,313.40.

Silver traded up 0.50 percent Wednesday to $16.555, while copper rose 0.13 to $3.063.


Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.63 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.52 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.51 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.24 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.23 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.28 percent.

Economics

The Producer Price Index rose 0.1 percent for April, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent gain.

U.S. wholesale trade inventories rose 0.3 percent for March, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.6 percent rise.

Crude supplies slipped 2.2 million barrels for the week ended May 4, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a drop of 400,000 barrels. Gasoline stockpiles slipped 2.2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell 3.8 million barrels for the week.

Posted In: NewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Afternoon Market Update
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