Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; General Mills Cuts Profit Guidance

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.19 percent to 24,681.56 while the NASDAQ gained 0.01 percent to 7,365.24. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.09 percent to 2,714.53.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the energy shares gained 1.41 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Gastar Exploration Inc. GST, up 7 percent, and WildHorse Resource Development Corporation WRD, up 7 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, consumer staples shares fell 0.97 percent.

Top Headline

General Mills, Inc. GIS reported upbeat results for its third quarter, but lowered its FY18 earnings forecast.

Adjusted earnings came in at 79 cents per share, beating estimates of 78 cents per share. Sales came in at $3.9 billion, versus estimates of $3.78 billion.

General Mills now expects FY18 adjusted earnings to rise up to 1 percent, versus earlier forecast for a 3 percent to 4 percent growth.

Equities Trading UP

China Auto Logistics Inc. CALI shares shot up 63 percent to $6.04.

Shares of Tecogen Inc. TGEN got a boost, shooting up 14 percent to $2.8101 after the company posted upbeat quarterly results.

DXP Enterprises, Inc. DXPE shares were also up, gaining 19 percent to $39.03 after the company reported strong quarterly results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Alder Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. ALDR shares dropped 11 percent to $12.18. Alder BioPharma named Paul Cleveland as interim President and CEO.

Shares of General Mills, Inc. GIS were down 10 percent to $45.04. General Mills reported upbeat results for its third quarter, but lowered its FY18 earnings forecast.

Winnebago Industries, Inc. WGO was down, falling around 6 percent to $41.33. Winnebago reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.83 percent to $64.07 while gold traded up 0.23 percent to $1,314.90.

Silver traded up 0.25 percent Wednesday to $16.225, while copper fell 0.71 percent to $3.0165.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.34 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.24 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.10 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.32 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.38 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.55 percent.

Economics

U.S. current account deficit widened to $128.2 billion in the fourth quarter, versus $101.5 billion in the third quarter. Economists projected a deficit of $125 billion.

Existing-home sales rose 3 percent at an annual pace of 5.54 million in February. Economists were expecting a 5.41 million rate.

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

The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The Fed Chair will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.