Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down 3%; Synlogic Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.13% to 26013.65 while the NASDAQ fell 0.51% to 7,782.33. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.24% to 2,878.81.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose 1.3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pampa Energía S.A. PAM, up 9%, and Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte Sociedad Anónima EDN, up 9%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 1.1%.

Top Headline

Online financial news publication TheStreet, Inc. TST will be acquired by Maven for $16.5 million in cash.

Seattle-based Maven is a coalition of Mavens, including individual thought-leaders to world-leading independent publishers, operating on a shared digital publishing, advertising, and distribution platform and unified under a single media brand.

Equities Trading UP

Immuron Limited IMRN shares shot up 40% to $4.20 after the company announced the US Department of Defense reported final results from the Travelan shigellosis challenge study; the drug prevented clinical shigellosis in 75% of treated animals.

Shares of Synlogic, Inc. SYBX got a boost, shooting up 25% to $7.81 after the company received an $80 million equity investment from Ginkgo. The companies will enter a long-term strategic collaboration to develop synthetic biotic medicines.

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. CRWD shares were also up, gaining 79% to $61.00 after pricing its IPO at $34 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. PLAY shares tumbled 22% to $40.34 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 sales results. The company also cut its FY19 guidance.

Shares of Hooker Furniture Corporation HOFT were down 18% to $22.12 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS results.

Globus Maritime Limited GLBS was down, falling 8% to $2.68 after reporting first-quarter earnings of $(0.15), up from $(0.48) year-over-year. Sales came in at $3.54 million, down from $3.938 million year over year.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 3% to $51.66, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,338.50.

Silver traded up 0.3% Wednesday to $14.785, while copper fell 0.5% to $2.6585.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.3%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.48%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.68%. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.36%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.8% while UK shares fell 0.42%.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% for May.

U.S. crude supplies rose 2.2 million barrels for the week ended June 7, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a gain of 80,000 barrels. Gasoline inventories climbed 800,000 barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles slipped 1 million barrels.

The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury budget report for May is schedule for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.