Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Rises Over 100 Points; Zscaler Shares Tumble On Weak Earnings Guidance

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.49% to 27040.69 while the NASDAQ rose 0.69% to 8,140.30. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.41% to 2,991.67.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares climbed 0.8% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. LXRX, up 24%, and Enochian Biosciences Inc. ENOB, up 29%.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate shares fell 0.2%.

Top Headline

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc PLAY reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter, but lowered its 2019 sales guidance.

Second-quarter earnings came in at 90 cents per share, beating estimates by 6 cents. Sales came in at $344.599 million, beating estimates by $309,000.

The company cut 2019 sales guidance from $1.365 billion-$1.390 billion to $1.34 billion-$1.36 billion and sees comps down 2%-3.5%.

Equities Trading UP

T2 Biosystems, Inc. TTOO shares shot up 65% to $2.36 after the company announced that it has been awarded a breakthrough technology contract with Premier. Premier's members will receive special pricing and access to T2 Biosystems' T2Bacteria Panel and T2Candida Panel.

Shares of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. LXRX got a boost, shooting up 25% to $2.1496 after the company announced the termination of its alliance and settlement with Sanofi. Sanofi must pay the company $260 million.

Yuma Energy, Inc. YUMA shares were also up, gaining 143% to $4.42 after the company announced a third-party has purchased all of the company's outstanding senior secured bank debt and related liabilities for approximately $35 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Top Ships Inc. TOPS shares tumbled 47% to $4.36 after the company priced 1.58 million share common stock offering at $6.30 per share.

Shares of Zscaler, Inc. ZS were down 19% to $49.84 after the company issued FY20 EPS guidance below analyst estimates.

Farmer Bros. Co. FARM was down, falling 19% to $11.36 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.8% to $55.82, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,503.70.

Silver traded up 0.1% Wednesday to $18.19, while copper fell 0.6% to $2.613.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.85%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.21%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.1%. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.74% and the French CAC 40 gained 0.44% while UK shares rose 0.96%.

Economics

The Producer Price Index increased 0.1% for August.

U.S. wholesale inventories increased 0.2% for July.

U.S. crude supplies dropped 6.9 million barrels for the week ended September 6, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a decline of 3.6 million barrels. Gasoline supplies fell 700,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose 2.7 million barrels.