Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Rises 1.75%; VistaGen Therapeutics Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.60 percent to 26,935.16 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.66 percent to 8,052.12. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.47 percent to 2,937.25.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the financial shares rose 1.29 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Greenpro Capital Corp. GRNQ up 17 percent, and Jupai Holdings Limited JP up 20 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 1.36 percent.

Top Headline

Lennar Corporation LEN reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Lennar posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.61 per share on sales of $5.67 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.19 per share on sales of $5.64 billion. Lennar's orders surged 51.6 percent to 31,473 homes for the quarter.

Equities Trading UP

vTv Therapeutics Inc. VTVT shares shot up 156 percent to $5.12 after surging 158.77 percent on Tuesday. Ronald Perelman's MacAndrews & Forbes fund earlier reported it raised its stake in the company to 83.6 percent as of September 27 per an agreement between the two entities.

Shares of VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. VTGN got a boost, shooting up 42 percent to $2.16 after the company disclosed that it has received FDA Fast Track designation for the development of AV-101 as a non-opioid treatment for neuropathic pain.

Upwork Inc. UPWK shares were also up, gaining 38 percent to $20.64. Upwork priced its IPO at $15 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Oragenics, Inc. OGEN shares dropped 47 percent to $1.89 after climbing 123.12 percent on Tuesday.

Shares of Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc. KALA were down 16 percent to $7.84. Kala Pharma said it commenced an underwritten public offering of 7.50 million shares. Separately, the company said it closed its $110 million credit facility with funds managed by Athyrium Capital Management.

India Globalization Capital, Inc. IGC was down, falling around 32 percent to $8.88 after rising 46.34 percent on Tuesday.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.75 percent to $76.55 while gold traded down 0.29 percent to $1,203.50.

Silver traded up 0.01 percent Wednesday to $14.695, while copper rose 1.12 to $2.838.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 0.5 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.6 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.84 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.42 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.43 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.48 percent.

Economics

Private-sector employers added 230,000 jobs in September, Automatic Data Processing Inc. reported. However, economists were expecting a rise of 187,000 jobs.

The Markit services PMI rose to 53.50 for September, versus prior reading of 52.90. Economists projected a reading of 52.90.

The ISM's non-manufacturing index rose to 61.60 for September, versus previous reading of 58.50. However, economists projected a reading of 58.10.

Domestic crude supplies climbed 8 million barrels for the week ended September 28, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 2.76 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles dropped 500,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 1.8 million barrels last week.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will speak in Washington D.C. at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Lawrence, Kansas at 8:00 p.m. ET.