Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down 2.5%; Sequenom Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.12 percent to 18,495.63 while the NASDAQ gained 0.49 percent to 5,135.15. However, the S&P fell 0.09 percent to 2,167.15.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Wednesday, technology shares climbed by 0.78 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Unisys Corporation UIS and LogMeIn Inc LOGM.

In trading on Wednesday, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares fell by 0.87 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Strayer Education Inc STRA, down 8 percent, and SUPERVALU INC. SVU, down 13 percent.

Top Headline

Apple Inc. AAPL reported stronger-than-expected results for its fiscal third quarter on Tuesday.

The company reported earnings of $7.8 billion or $1.42 per share, which compares to Wall Street consensus EPS estimates of $1.38. The high estimate was $1.47 with a low estimate of $1.23. This represents a decline of 27 percent from the $1.85 that Apple reported in last year's third-quarter. The company reported quarterly revenue of $42.36 billion, beating analysts' estimates. Sales in the period were expected to be $42.09 billion, with a high estimate of $43.7 billion and a low estimate of $40.72 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Medigus Ltd. MDGS shares shot up 73 percent to $2.32 after the company reported that it has received its first purchase order from Johns Hopkins Hospital for its MUSE™ system.

Shares of Sequenom, Inc. SQNM got a boost, shooting up 176 percent to $2.35 as the company agreed to be acquired by Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings LH for $2.40 per share in cash.

Unisys Corporation UIS shares were also up, gaining 23 percent to $9.74. Unisys reported Q2 earnings of $0.81 per share on revenue of $748.9 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Akamai Technologies, Inc. AKAM shares dropped 15 percent to $49.35 after the company reported downbeat Q2 revenue and issued a weak Q3 guidance.

Shares of Twitter Inc TWTR were down 14 percent to $15.91. Twitter reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter, but revenue fell short of expectations. The company also issued a weak revenue forecast for the third quarter.

Robert Half International Inc. RHI was down, falling around 12 percent to $36.60 after the company posted weaker-than-expected Q2 earnings.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.52 percent to $41.84 while gold traded up 0.39 percent to $1,333.50.

Silver traded up 1.81 percent Wednesday to $20.04, while copper fell 1.80 percent to $2.19.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.43 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 1.18 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.99 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX rose 0.70 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.19 percent, while U.K. shares rose 0.39 percent.

Economics

The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity declined 11.20 percent in the week ended July 22, 2016.

U.S. durable-goods orders declined 4 percent for June, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.1 percent drop.

The pending home sales index increased 0.2 percent to 111.0 in June, compared to 110.8 in May. Economists were expecting a 1.4 percent growth for June.

U.S. crude supplies increased 1.7 million barrels for the week ended July 22, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a drop of 2.6 million barrels. Gasoline supplies rose 500,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 800,000 barrels last week.

The Fed left U.S. interest rates unchanged.