Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Copart Profit Misses Expectations

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.60 percent to 26,405.28 while the NASDAQ declined 0.28 percent to 7,933.50. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.07 percent to 2,906.24.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the materials shares rose 1.45 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Mechel PAO MTL up 8 percent, and Intrepid Potash, Inc. IPI up 5 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 0.71 percent.

Top Headline

Copart, Inc. CPRT reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Copart posted quarterly earnings of $0.42 per share on sales of $449.2 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.48 per share on sales of $443.72 million.

Equities Trading UP

Molecular Templates, Inc. MTEM shares shot up 75 percent to $7.16 after the company announced an agreement with Takeda for joint development of CD38-targeted ETB for multiple myeloma treatment.

Shares of Tilray, Inc. TLRY got a boost, shooting up 37 percent to $212.21 after climbing 28.95 percent on Tuesday.

Command Security Corporation MOC shares were also up, gaining 47 percent to $2.7840 after the company agreed to be acquired by Prosegur for $2.85 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Copart, Inc. CPRT shares dropped 13 percent to $55.99 after the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Shares of EVO Payments, Inc. EVOP were down 5 percent to $24.90 after reporting an offering of 6.022 million shares.

Vital Therapies Inc VTL was down, falling around 18 percent to $0.35.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.01 percent to $69.86 while gold traded up 0.5 percent to $1,208.90.

Silver traded up 0.39 percent Wednesday to $14.24, while copper rose 0.07 to $2.7325.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.04 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.04 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.21 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.20 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.30 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.23 percent.

Economics

Housing starts rose 9.2 percent at an annual rate of 1.282 million in August.

The U.S. current-account deficit declined 17 percent to $101.5 billion in the second quarter, versus a revised $121.7 billion for the first quarter.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.