Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASDAQ Up Over 1%; HubSpot Shares Jump After Raised Outlook

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.32 percent to 22,356.14 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.23 percent to 6,458.89. The S&P also fell, gaining 0.50 percent to 2,509.43.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the technology shares surged 0.84 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Overstock.com, Inc. OSTK, up 24 percent, and Ultra Clean Holdings Inc UCTT, up 8 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 1.42 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included SCANA Corporation SCG, down 8 percent, and Companhia Paranaense de Energia (ADR) ELP down 5 percent.

Top Headline

Micron Technology, Inc. MU reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Tuesday.

Micron reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $2.02 per share on revenue of $6.14 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.84 per share on sales of $5.96 billion.

Micron expects Q1 earnings of $1.73 to $1.87 per share on sales of $5.7 billion to $6.1 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Remark Holdings, Inc. MARK shares shot up 15 percent to $4.06 following the announcement that the company has secured at least a $1 million contract to provide facial and object recognition to a Chinese government owned business.

Shares of Overstock.com, Inc. OSTK got a boost, shooting up 23 percent to $28.85 following news from the company's tZERO unit of joint venture with RenGen and Argon for the launch of Alternative Trading System used for security tokens issued by ICO in compliance with SEC and FINRA regulations.

HubSpot Inc HUBS shares were also up, gaining 13 percent to $81.80 as the company raised its Q3 outlook. Instead of a loss in the 6 cent-10 cent range, the company expects the loss to be in the 2 cent-4 cent range versus the Street estimate of a loss of 9 cents.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tantech Holdings Ltd TANH shares dropped 32 percent to $2.89 after the company reported a deal for registered direct placement of $6.5m in common shares and warrants.

Shares of Tile Shop Hldgs, Inc. TTS were down 17 percent to $12.18. Piper Jaffray downgraded Tile Shop from Overweight to Neutral.

Kornit Digital Ltd KRNT was down, falling around 18 percent to $14.05 after the company lowered its Q3 sales outlook. Citigroup downgraded Kornit Digital from Buy to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.33 percent to $52.05 while gold traded down 1.02 percent to $1,288.40.

Silver traded down 0.34 percent Wednesday to $16.825, while copper rose 0.34 percent to $2.929.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.41 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.76 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.85 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.41 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.25 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.38 percent.

Economics

The MBA's index of mortgage application activity rose to a reading of 231.00 in the latest week, versus prior reading of 224.70.

U.S. durable goods orders rose 1.7 percent for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 1 percent growth.

The pending home sales index declined 2.6 percent for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.5 percent drop.

Domestic crude supplies dropped 1.85 million barrels for the week ended September 22, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a gain of 3.42 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles rose 1.11 million barrels for the week, while distillate stockpiles slipped 814,000 barrels.

Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren is set to speak in New York City at 7:00 p.m. ET.