Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Higher; CarMax Tops Q1 Expectations

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.04 percent to 21,458.28 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.38 percent to 6,211.72. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.06 percent to 2,438.52.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Healthcare shares rose by 0.81 percent in the US market on Wednesday. Top gainers in the sector included NewLink Genetics Corp NLNK, Exelixis, Inc. EXEL, and ImmunoGen, Inc. IMGN.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 0.43 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included CIRCOR International, Inc. CIR, down 11 percent, and Petrobras Argentina SA ADR PZE, down 8 percent.

Top Headline

CarMax, Inc KMX reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Wednesday.

CarMax posted quarterly earnings of $1.13 per share on revenue of $4.54 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.98 per share on revenue of $4.46 billion.

Equities Trading UP

CA, Inc. CA shares shot up 14 percent to $35.88 following a Bloomberg report late last night suggesting BMC Software could be interested in the company.

Shares of La-Z-Boy Incorporated LZB got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $30.77 as the company posted better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Uni-Pixel Inc UNXL shares were also up, gaining 7 percent to $0.407 after the company reported a deal with GIS for joint development of touch sensors for flexible display.

Equities Trading DOWN

Sangamo Therapeutics Inc SGMO shares dropped 5 percent to $7.80. Sangamo Therapeutics reported an offering of common shares.

Shares of Bill Barrett Corporation BBG were down 6 percent to $3.11. Seaport Global downgraded Bill Barrett from Hold to Sell.

Basic Energy Services, Inc. BAS was down, falling around 7 percent to $22.26. Seaport Global Securities downgraded Basic Energy Services from Buy to Neutral.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.95 percent to $43.34 while gold traded up 0.08 percent to $1,244.50.

Silver traded down 0.29 percent Wednesday to $16.37, while copper rose 1.17 percent to $2.602.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.25 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.23 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.20 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.26 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.53 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.52 percent.

Economics

The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity rose 0.6 percent for the latest week.

Existing home sales rose 1.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.62 million for May. However, economists were expecting a 5.60 million rate.

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