Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; Childrens Place Profit Tops Estimates

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.01 percent to 20,923.90 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.36 percent to 5,854.90. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.10 percent to 2,370.70.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Financial shares rose 0.51 percent in trading on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Northeast Bancorp NBN, and Gain Capital Holdings Inc GCAP.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell by 1.01 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Cia Energetica de Minas Gerais CEMIG-ADR CIG, down 3 percent, and NRG Energy Inc NRG, down 3 percent.

Top Headline

Childrens Place Inc PLCE posted better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Children's Place posted Q4 earnings of $1.88 per share on revenue of $520.8 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.59 per share on revenue of $522.2 million.

Children's Place reported a $250 million share buyback plan and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.40 per share.

Equities Trading UP

ParkerVision, Inc. PRKR shares shot up 23 percent to $3.18 following favorable patent decisions versus QUALCOMM, Inc. QCOM announced Tuesday.

Shares of CafePress Inc PRSS got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $3.39 on strong results for the fourth quarter.

Childrens Place Inc PLCE shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $115.85 after the company posted better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Natera Inc NTRA shares dropped 13 percent to $8.55 after the company reported a wider-than-expected fourth-quarter loss.

Shares of Express, Inc. EXPR were down around 15 percent to $9.10. Express reported in-line earnings for its fourth quarter, but issued a weak outlook for the current quarter.

Health Insurance Innovations Inc HIIQ was down, falling around 13 percent to $15.06. Health Insurance Innovations reported a secondary offering by selling shareholders.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.15 percent to $52.53 while gold traded down 0.54 percent to $1,209.50.

Silver traded down 1.03 percent Wednesday to $17.36, while copper rose 0.40 percent to $2.63.

Eurozone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.17 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.48 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.06 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.23 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.19 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.08 percent.

Economics

The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity declined 3.3 percent for the latest week.

Private-sector employers added 298,000 jobs in February, ADP reported. However, economists were expecting a gain of 190,000 jobs.

U.S. nonfarm productivity rose 1.30 percent for the fourth quarter, versus economists’ expectations for a 1.50 percent gain. Unit-labor costs increased 1.7 percent for the quarter.

U.S. wholesale inventories declined 0.2 percent in January.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.