Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Nu Skin Enterprises Rises Following Strong Q1 Results; Frontier Communications Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.1 percent to 26565.75 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.15 percent to 8107.29. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.18 percent to 2940.45.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the information technology shares rose 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Nanometrics Incorporated NANO up 24 percent, and Rogers Corporation ROG up 16 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 1.2 percent.

Top Headline

Apple Inc. AAPL reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.

Earnings came in at $2.46 per share, beating estimates by 10 cents. Sales came in at $58 billion, beating estimates by $560 million.

The company issued strong third-quarter sales guidance of $52.5 billion-$54.5 billion; Estimates called for $51.9 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

Enphase Energy, Inc. ENPH shares got a boost, shooting up 29 percent to $12.99 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results.

Shares of ARCA biopharma, Inc. ABIO shot up 117 percent to $11.20 after data from the company's GENETIC-AF Phase 2B trial was published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology.

Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. NUS shares were also up, gaining 26 percent to $64.28 after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 EPS and sales results and issued FY19 guidance above the consensus estimates.

Equities Trading DOWN

Pulse Biosciences, Inc.. PLSE shares dropped 26 percent to $11.79 after reporting wider-than-expected Q1 loss.

Shares of CM Seven Star Acquisition Corporation CMSS were down 42 percent to $2.90 after the company reported the consummation of business combination with Renren Inc.'s Kaixin Auto Group.

Frontier Communications Corporation FTR was down, falling around 26 percent to $2.10 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6 percent to $63.52 while gold traded down 0.8 percent to $1,275.70.

Silver traded down 2.3 percent Wednesday to $14.635, while copper fell 3.4 percent to $2.8055.

 

Eurozone

Majority of the European markets are closed for a public holiday.

Economics

Private-sector employers added 275,000 jobs in April, ADP reported Wednesday. However, economists were expecting a gain of 181,000 jobs.

The manufacturing PMI for April is schedule for release at 9:45 a.m. ET.

The ISM manufacturing composite index fell to 52.8 for April, versus a reading of 55.3 in March. However, economists projected a reading of 54.7.

U.S. construction spending fell 0.9 percent for March, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent drop.

U.S. crude supplies climbed 9.9 million barrels for the week ended April 26, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 1.4 million barrels. Gasoline inventories rose 900,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles declined 1.3 million barrels last week.

In a move that was widely expected, the Federal Reserve opted not to raise interest rates on Wednesday. The decision comes just six weeks after the Fed said another interest rate hake in 2019 is unlikely.