Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; TheStreet To Be Acquired By Maven

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.13% to 26013.65 while the NASDAQ fell 0.51% to 7,782.33. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.24% to 2,878.81.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose 1.3% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pampa Energía S.A. PAM, up 10%, and Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte Sociedad Anónima EDN, up 10%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 0.9%.

Top Headline

Online financial news publication TheStreet, Inc. TST will be acquired by Maven for $16.5 million in cash.

Seattle-based Maven is a coalition of Mavens, including individual thought-leaders to world-leading independent publishers, operating on a shared digital publishing, advertising, and distribution platform and unified under a single media brand.

Equities Trading UP

Immuron Limited IMRN shares shot up 59% to $4.79 after the company announced the US Department of Defense reported final results from the Travelan shigellosis challenge study; the drug prevented clinical shigellosis in 75% of treated animals.

Shares of Synlogic, Inc. SYBX got a boost, shooting up 20% to $7.52 after the company received an $80 million equity investment from Ginkgo. The companies will enter a long-term strategic collaboration to develop synthetic biotic medicines.

Netshoes (Cayman) Limited NETS shares were also up, gaining 13% to $3.42 after Brazil’s retailer Grupo SBF SA lifted its offer for Netshoes Cayman to $3.70 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. PLAY shares tumbled 22% to $40.38 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 sales results. The company also cut its FY19 guidance.

Shares of Hooker Furniture Corporation HOFT were down 13% to $23.48 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS results.

Globus Maritime Limited GLBS was down, falling 5% to $2.78 after reporting first-quarter earnings of $(0.15), up from $(0.48) year-over-year. Sales came in at $3.54 million, down from $3.938 million year over year.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.8% to $51.76, while gold traded up 0.6% to $1,339.20.

Silver traded up 0.4% Wednesday to $14.795, while copper fell 0.7% to $2.653.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.6%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.6%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.7%. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.5%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.8% while UK shares fell 0.7%.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% for May.

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

The Treasury is set to auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Treasury budget report for May is schedule for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.