Mid-Day Market Update: Westport Fuel Systems Falls Following Downbeat Q4 Results; Nevro Shares Surge

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.26 percent to 25,820.63 while the NASDAQ declined 0.08 percent to 7,718.01. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.23 percent to 2,826.06.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Wednesday, the energy shares climbed 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Chesapeake Energy Corporation CHK up 6 percent, and PrimeEnergy Resources Corporation PNRG up 5 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, health care shares fell 0.6 percent.

Top Headline

General Mills, Inc. GIS reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter and lifted its full-year guidance.

General Mills reported quarterly earnings of $0.83 per share on sales of $4.2 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.69 per share on sales of $4.19 billion. General Mills said it now expects adjusted EPS between flat and up 1 percent for full-year fiscal 2019.

Equities Trading UP

Motif Bio plc MTFB shares got a boost, shooting up 83 percent to $2.94 after the FDA granted the company's request for a Type A meeting to discuss the complete response letter regarding iclaprim.

Shares of Nevro Corp. NVRO shot up 34 percent to $60.20 after the company announced it reached a management agreement with hedge fund Broadfin Capital. Nevro named D. Keith Grossman as President and CEO. Bank of America upgraded Nevro from Neutral to Buy, while BMO Capital upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform.

Electrameccanica Vehicles Corp. SOLO shares were also up, gaining 35 percent to $4.62 after Benchmark initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating.

Equities Trading DOWN

Intellipharmaceutics International Inc. IPCI shares dropped 17 percent to $0.2240 after Nasdaq notified the company that it will delist its shares. The company's shares will begin trading on the OTC exchange.

Shares of Phunware Inc. PHUN were down 18 percent to $34.00. Phunware posted FY18 loss of $0.38 per share on sales of $30.9 million..

Westport Fuel Systems Inc. WPRT was down, falling around 9 percent to $1.3650 following downbeat Q4 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.9 percent to $59.53 while gold traded down 0.2 percent to $1,303.30.

Silver traded down 0.4 percent Wednesday to $15.305, while copper rose 0.1 percent to $2.924.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.77 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.56 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.33 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 1.44 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.5 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.11 percent.

Economics

U.S. crude supplies dropped 9.59 million barrels for the week ended March 15, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 309,000 barrels. Supplies of gasoline fell 4.59 million barrels, while distillates dropped 4.13 million barrels last week.

The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.