Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Federal Reserve Leaves Rates Unchanged; Foresight Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.14% to 26502.18 while the NASDAQ rose 0.05% to 7958.13. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.13% to 2921.45.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Health care shares rose 1% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Novo Integrated Sciences, Inc. NVOS, up 26%, and Acro Biomedical Co., Ltd. ACBM, up 22%.

In trading on Wednesday, materials shares fell by 0.6%.

Top Headline

In a move that was widely expected, the Federal Reserve opted not to cut interest rates on Wednesday. The decision comes just six weeks after the Fed said the U.S. economy is solid and the labor market remains strong.

The Fed reiterated its previous position that the U.S. labor market is strong and jobs growth is solid, but it does anticipate a rate cut coming in 2020. A minority (seven out of 17 Fed officials) do see interest rates falling 0.5% by the end of 2019. Eight of the nine members voted against a June rate cut, with St. Louis Fed chair James Bullard representing the lone dissenting vote.

Equities Trading UP

Foresight Autonomous Holdings Ltd. FRSX shares shot up 46% to $1.37 after the company signed a commercial agreement with Elbit Systems for exclusive marketing of its software for the defense market.

Shares of Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc ARCT got a boost, shooting up 40% to $8.09 after the company expanded its research collaboration and licensing agreement with Ultragenyx to develop nucleic acid therapies. The company will receive upfront payments and an equity investment.

Melinta Therapeutics, Inc. MLNT shares were also up, gaining 252% to $6.97 after the company said the FDA accepted a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for priority review of its BAXDELA sNDAfor the treatment of community acquired bacterial pneumonia.

Equities Trading DOWN

Sesen Bio, Inc. SESN shares tumbled 22% to $1.43. Sesen Bio priced its 20.41 million share offering at $1.47 per share.

Shares of Genocea Biosciences, Inc. GNCA were down 22% to $4.0098 after the company reported a 10 million shares common stock offering.

Legacy Reserves Inc. LGCY was down, falling 27% to $0.0791 after the company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Legacy Reserves has made a Chapter 11 filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Chapter 11 generally provides for reorganization and usually involves a corporation or partnership. A Chapter 11 debtor usually proposes a plan of reorganization to keep its business alive and pay creditors over time.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $53.80, while gold traded up 0.5% to $1,357.60.

Silver traded up 0.6% Wednesday to $15.085, while copper fell 0.6% to $2.686.

Euro zone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.01%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.1%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.41%. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.19%, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.16% while UK shares fell 0.53%.

Economics

U.S. crude supplies dropped 3.1 million barrels for the week ended June 14, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a fall of 2 million barrels. Gasoline inventories dropped 1.7 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles fell 600,000 barrels.

The Federal Reserve opted not to cut interest rates on Wednesday.