Mid-Afternoon Market Update: RH Gains After Strong Q4 Results; Quorum Health Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.15 percent to 20,670.50 while the NASDAQ rose 0.35 percent to 5,895.93. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.12 percent to 2,361.32.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the energy sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. HOS and Bristow Group Inc BRS.

In trading on Wednesday, financial shares fell 0.23 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Transcontinental Realty Investors Inc TCI, down 14 percent, and Citizens, Inc. CIA, down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Paychex, Inc. PAYX reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter on Wednesday.

Paychex posted Q3 earnings of $0.56 per share on revenue of $795.8 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.54 per share on revenue of $799.0 million.

Equities Trading UP

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated VRTX shares shot up 21 percent to $108.79 after the company disclosed that two Phase 3 studies of the tezacaftor/ivacaftor combo treatment for CF met primary endpoints. BMO Capital upgraded Vertex Pharma from Market Perform to Outperform.

Shares of RH RH got a boost, shooting up 15 percent to $43.73 as the company reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter.

Exar Corporation EXAR shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $13.00 after the company agreed to be acquired by MaxLinear, Inc. MXL for $13 per share in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

Alliqua Biomedical Inc ALQA shares dropped 31 percent to $0.430. Alliqua BioMedical priced its 9.375 million share offering at $0.40 per share.

Shares of Atossa Genetics Inc ATOS were down around 28 percent to $0.782 after the company reported the pricing of its $4,000,000 public offering.

Quorum Health Corp QHC was down, falling around 12 percent to $5.61 after the company posted disappointing Q4 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 2.13 percent to $49.40 while gold traded down 0.25 percent to $1,255.70.

Silver traded down 0.18 percent Wednesday to $18.22, while copper rose 0.06 percent to $2.68.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.33 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.21 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.26 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.44 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.45 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.41 percent.

Economics

The pending home sales index increased 5.5 percent for February, versus economists’ expectations for a 2.4 percent growth

Crude inventories increased 900,000 barrels to 534 million barrels in the latest week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts expected a gain of 300,000 barrels. Gasoline supplies declined 3.7 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 2.5 million barrels last week.