Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Turns Positive; RMG Networks Holding Shares Plummet

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.34 percent to 24,114.88 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.70 percent to 6,990.17. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.53 percent to 2,628.38.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the consumer staples shares gained 0.93 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Smart & Final Stores, Inc. SFS, up 8 percent, and Pingtan Marine Enterprise Ltd. PME, up 7 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 1.4 percent.

Top Headline

Lennar Corporation LEN reported a better-than-expected fiscal first quarter earnings report.

Lennar reported adjusted earnings of $1.11 per share on revenue of $2.66 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $0.77 per share on revenue of $2.65 billion

Equities Trading UP

Tenax Therapeutics, Inc. TENX shares shot up 66 percent to $8.85 after the company reported results of pre-IND meeting with the FDA for Phase 2 study of levosimendan in PH-HFpEF patients.

Shares of RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation RXII got a boost, shooting up 25 percent to $3.31. RXi Pharma will present updated clinical and cosmetic dermatology programs at the International Investigative Dermatology (IID) Conference.

Triangle Capital Corporation TCAP shares were also up, gaining 11 percent to $12.19 after the company announced the sale of investment portfolio for $981.2 million in cash along with a simultaneous externalization transaction.

Equities Trading DOWN

Cloudera, Inc. CLDR shares dropped 40 percent to $13.34. Cloudera reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter, but issued weak sales forecast for the current fiscal year.

Shares of Cellectis S.A. CLLS were down 13 percent to $33.510 after the company disclosed a $175 million follow-on ADS offering.

RMG Networks Holding Corporation RMGN was down, falling around 16 percent to $1.2148 after the company agreed to be acquired by SCG Digital for $1.27 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.58 percent to $63.14 while gold traded up 0.22 percent to $1,340.20.

Silver traded down 0.71 percent Wednesday to $16.275, while copper fell 1.8 percent to $3.0085.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.47 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 0.38 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 0.30 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.37 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.20 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.05 percent.

Economics

Private-sector employers added 241,000 jobs in March, Automatic Data Processing Inc. reported. Economists expected a gain of 185,000 jobs.

The Markit services PMI declined to 54.00 for March, versus previous reading of 54.10. However, economists were expecting a reading of 54.30.

U.S. factory orders rose 1.2 percent for February, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.8 percent growth

The ISM non-manufacturing index slipped to 58.80 for March, versus prior reading of 59.50. Economists expected a reading of 59.20.

Crude inventories slipped 4.6 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 1 million barrels.