Mid-Afternoon Market Update: SMART Global Holdings Falls On Downbeat Earnings; Diebold Nixdorf Shares Jump

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.41 percent to 23,885.08 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.74 percent to 6,947.95. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.39 percent to 2,584.33.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the information technology shares climbed 1.6 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated DBD up 27 percent, and Himax Technologies, Inc. HIMX up 16 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate shares fell 1 percent.

Top Headline

Lennar Corporation LEN reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed estimates.

Lennar posted Q4 earnings of $1.96 per share on sales of $6.459 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.93 per share on sales of $6.55 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Chesapeake Energy Corporation CHK shares got a boost, shooting up 13 percent to $2.7750 after the company announced stronger than expected Q4 production results.

Shares of Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated DBD shot up 27 percent to $3.5900. DA Davidson upgraded Diebold Nixdorf from Neutral to Buy.

Atossa Genetics Inc. ATOS shares were also up, gaining 35 percent to $1.6654 after the company announced the completion of its Phase 1 Endoxifen study. The study showed no clinically significant adverse events and was well tolerated.

Equities Trading DOWN

SMART Global Holdings, Inc. SGH shares dropped 27 percent to $23.39 after the company reported downbeat earnings for its first quarter and issued weak forecast for the second quarter.

Shares of Constellation Brands, Inc. STZ were down 11 percent to $154.11 after management cut 2019 guidance to account for its Canopy Growth Corp investment. However, the company reported upbeat Q3 earnings.

Hudson Ltd. HUD was down, falling around 13 percent to $14.53 after the company announced its CEO, Joseph DiDomizio is stepping down and the COO, Roger Fordyce will be taking his place.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4.42 percent to $51.98 while gold traded up 0.32 percent to $1,290.00.

Silver traded down 0.08 percent Wednesday to $15.70, while copper rose 0.23 percent to $2.662.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 surged 0.53 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.27 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.94 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.83 percent, and the French CAC 40 jumped 0.84 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.66 percent.

Economics

Domestic crude supplies declined 1.68 million barrels for the week ended January 4, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a drop of 2.8 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles gained 8.07 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles climbed 10.61 million barrels last week.

The Federal Open Market Committee issued minutes of its latest meeting.