Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mixed; Walgreens Beats Q2 Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.16 percent to 23,895.07 while the NASDAQ declined 0.33 percent to 6,985.56. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.07 percent to 2,614.40.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the telecommunication services shares gained 2.03 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included PLDT Inc. PHI, up 4 percent, and IDT Corporation IDT, up 3 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 0.75 percent.

Top Headline

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. WBA reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised its FY18 earnings guidance.

Walgreens reported adjusted earnings of $1.73 per share on revenue of $33 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.55 per share on sales of $32.2 billion.

Walgreens now expects FY18 adjusted earnings of $5.85 to $6.05 per share, versus earlier forecast of $5.45 to $5.70 per share.

Equities Trading UP

RH RH shares shot up 22 percent to $91.72 after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter and issued strong FY2018 earnings guidance.

Shares of RSP Permian, Inc. RSPP got a boost, shooting up 16 percent to $44.97. Concho Resources Inc. CXO announced plans to buy RSP Permian in an all-stock deal.

Euro Tech Holdings Company Limited CLWT shares were also up, gaining 37 percent to $3.569 after the company disclosed that it has signed an equity transfer agreement to sell its 20 percent equity stake of Zhejiang Jiahuan Electronics Co., Ltd.

Equities Trading DOWN

Edge Therapeutics, Inc. EDGE shares dropped 90 percent to $1.5269 after the company disclosed that its Phase 3 Newton 2 study is unlikely to achieve primary efficacy endpoint. The independent Data Monitoring Committee has recommended discontinuation of study.

Shares of InspireMD, Inc. NSPR were down 35 percent to $1.5701. InspireMD priced its 2.857 million share offering at $1.75 per share.

Invitae Corporation NVTA was down, falling around 13 percent to $4.73. Invitae priced its 11.11 million share offering at $4.50 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.86 percent to $64.69 while gold traded down 0.68 percent to $1,338.80.

Silver traded down 1.06 percent Wednesday to $16.365, while copper fell 0.22 percent to $2.994.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.31 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index declined 0.14 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.19 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX fell 0.82 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.57 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.09 percent.

Economics

The U.S. economy expanded at an annual pace of 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter, versus prior reading of 2.5 percent growth. However, economists were expecting a 2.5 percent growth.

U.S. trade deficit widened 0.1 percent to $75.4 billion in February from $75.3 billion. Advanced wholesale inventories rose 1.1 percent in February, while advanced retail inventories increased 0.4 percent.

The pending home sales index increased 3.1 percent to 107.5 for February Economists projected a 2.1 percent rise.

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Atlanta at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 7-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Data on farm prices for February will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.