Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up 1%; Wave Life Sciences Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.08 percent to 26130.24 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.37 percent to 7,938.67. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.17 percent to 2,883.16.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the real estate shares rose 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included CBL & Associates Properties, Inc CBL up 5 percent, and Trinity Place Holdings Inc. TPHS up 5 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 0.4 percent.

Top Headline

Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Wednesday.

Delta's first-quarter adjusted earnings of 96 cents per share beat estimates by 7 cents. Sales of $10.4 billion were slightly ahead of consensus estimates.

Total revenue of $10.4 billion represents the company's largest ever March-ending quarter performance. Unit costs were actually down on a year-over-year basis during a typically seasonally weak period, which was also hampered by weather issues.

Equities Trading UP

Inpixon INPX shares got a boost, shooting up 53 percent to $1.22 following news of a deal to buy Locality Systems.

Shares of Global Brass and Copper Holdings Inc BRSS shot up 25 percent to $43.39 after the company announced a definitive merger agreement with Wieland-Werke AG at $44 per share in cash.

IZEA Worldwide, Inc. IZEA shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $1.1277 after reporting first-quarter bookings of $7.8 million, up 18 percent year over year.

Equities Trading DOWN

Helius Medical Technologies Inc HSDT shares dropped 65 percent to $2.16 after the FDA declined the company's request for its De Novo classification and 510(k) clearance of the PoNS device.

Shares of Outlook Therapeutics, Inc. OTLK were down 46 percent to $1.7050. Outlook Therapeutics priced its 10.34 million share offering at $2.75 per share.

Wave Life Sciences Ltd. WVE was down, falling around 17 percent to $34.64 after the company announced it would delay the data readout timeline on its Huntington's Disease trial.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1 percent to $64.61 while gold traded up 0.3 percent to $1,312.70.

Silver traded up 0.1 percent Wednesday to $15.23, while copper fell 0.3 percent to $2.925.

 

Eurozone

European shares closed mixed today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.26 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.01 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.01 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.47 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.25 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.05 percent.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.4 percent for March, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent increase.

U.S. crude supplies rose 7.029 million barrels for the week ended April 5, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 2.29 million barrels. Supplies of gasoline fell 7.71 million barrels last week, while distillates dropped 116,000 barrels.

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

The U.S. federal government posted a budget deficit of $147 billion for March, versus $209 billion deficit in the year-ago month, the Treasury Department reported.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Houston, TX at 7:00 p.m. ET.