Mid-Afternoon Market Update: U.S. Stocks Turns Higher; Tesla Shares Plunge

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.3 percent to 23,396.33 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.7 percent to 6,680.93. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.36 percent to 2,515.83.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the energy shares climbed 2.3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Alta Mesa Resources, Inc. AMR up 16 percent, and Ultra Petroleum Corp. UPL up 17 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate shares fell 2.5 percent.

Top Headline

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. OHI announced plans to acquire MedEquities Realty Trust, Inc. MRT in a transaction representing enterprise value of approximately $600 million.

Equities Trading UP

Prana Biotechnology Limited PRAN shares got a boost, shooting up 48 percent to $1.8998 after the company entered a Securities Purchase Agreement with Life Biosciences. Life Biosciences is set to invest up to $44.5 million in Prana Biotechnology.

Shares of MedEquities Realty Trust, Inc. MRT shot up 45 percent to $9.90 after Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. OHI announced plans to acquire MedEquities Realty Trust in a transaction representing enterprise value of approximately $600 million.

Windstream Holdings, Inc. WIN shares were also up, gaining 26 percent to $2.63 after the company reported the sale of EarthLink consumer internet business for $330 million in cash.

Equities Trading DOWN

MyoKardia, Inc. MYOK shares dropped 14 percent to $42.09 after the company announced its collaboration with Sanofi ended and it regained rights to Mavacamten and MYK-19.

Shares of Tesla, Inc. TSLA were down 7 percent to $308.44 after the company's Q4 vehicle delivery numbers failed to meet estimates.

Tyme Technologies, Inc. TYME was down, falling around 8 percent to $3.39 after the company announced it is offering to sell 12.09 million common shares.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4.27 percent to $47.35 while gold traded up 0.51 percent to $1,287.80.

Silver traded up 0.42 percent Wednesday to $15.605, while copper fell 0.61 percent to $2.615.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.13 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.12 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.04 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.20 percent, and the French CAC 40 dipped 0.87 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.09 percent.

Economics

The Markit manufacturing PMI slipped to 53.80 in December, versus an initial reading of 53.90. However, economists were expecting a reading of 53.90.