Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher; Johnson & Johnson Posts Mixed Q4 Results

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.32% to 29289.99 while the NASDAQ rose 0.55% to 9,422.15. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.35% to 3,332.50.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares climbed 0.9% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included ACM Research, Inc. ACMR, up 7%, and NeoPhotonics Corporation NPTN, up 7%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 0.2%.

Top Headline

Johnson & Johnson JNJ reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings, while sales missed views.

Johnson & Johnson reported quarterly earnings of $1.88 per share on Wednesday, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.87. The company reported quarterly sales of $20.75 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $20.78 billion.

The company says it sees fiscal year 2020 adjusted operational EPS at $9-$9.15, and operational sales at $85.8-$86.6 billion.


Equities Trading UP

One Stop Systems, Inc. OSS shares shot up 36% to $2.7896 after the company issued Q4 and FY19 sales guidance above analyst estimates.

Shares of Superior Industries International, Inc. SUP got a boost, shooting up 25% to $4.17.

Express, Inc. EXPR shares were also up, gaining 20% to $4.97 after the company narrowed its Q4 earnings forecast and announced plans to close 100 stores by 2022.


Equities Trading DOWN

NanoViricides, Inc. NNVC shares tumbled 51% to $4.19 after the company priced its 2.5 million share common stock offering at $3 per share.

Shares of FuelCell Energy, Inc. FCEL were down 20% to $2.31 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 results.

Novavax, Inc. NVAX was down, falling 20% to $7.90 after the company filed for a $100 million mixed shelf offering.

Commodities


In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $58.06, while gold traded down 0.1% to $1,555.90.

Silver traded down 0.2% Wednesday to $17.78, while copper fell 0.1% to $2.7895.

Euro zone

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

Economics

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index declined to a reading of -0.35 in December, compared to a revised reading of +0.41 in the prior month.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index was flat during the first two weeks of January versus December.

The FHFA house price index rose 0.2% in November, versus a revised 0.4% increase in October.

Existing home sales rose 3.6% to an annual rate of 5.54 million for December.

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Posted In: EarningsNewsEurozoneCommoditiesGlobalIntraday UpdateMarketsMid-Morning Market Update
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