Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Mostly Lower; Nike Sales Miss Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.29 percent to 20,607.98 while the NASDAQ rose 0.05 percent to 5,796.52. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.16 percent to 2,340.38.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the utilities sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) KEP and RGC Resources Inc. RGCO.

In trading on Wednesday, financial shares fell 0.54 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. CBL, down 4 percent, and ING Groep NV (ADR) ING, down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Nike Inc NKE reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed estimates.

Nike posted Q3 earnings of $0.68 per share on revenue of $8.4 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $0.53 per share on revenue of $8.47 billion. On a currency-neutral basis, Nike’s futures orders dropped 1 percent, while futures orders on a reported basis dropped around 4 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Duluth Holdings Inc DLTH shares shot up 15 percent to $22.24 after the company reported upbeat Q4 results.

Shares of Moleculin Biotech Inc MBRX got a boost, shooting up 27 percent to $1.36 after the company reported that its AML treatment Liposomal Annamycin has been awarded the FDA Orphan Drug designation.

bebe stores, inc. BEBE shares were also up, gaining 16 percent to $4.14 after dropping 44.65 percent on Tuesday.

Equities Trading DOWN

Diana Containerships Inc DCIX shares dropped 26 percent to $1.69. Diana Containerships reported up to $150 million securities offering.

Shares of Sears Holdings Corp SHLD were down around 12 percent to $8.02. Sears warned on Tuesday about its ability to continue as a going concern after years of losses and declining sales.

Vital Therapies Inc VTL was down, falling around 8 percent to $3.90. Vital Therapies priced an offering of 8.75 million shares at $4 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.45 percent to $47.54 while gold traded up 0.06 percent to $1,250.30.

Silver traded down 0.27 percent Wednesday to $17.535, while copper fell 0.63 percent to $2.602.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.63 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.04 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.15 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.49 percent, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.42 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.88 percent.

Economics

Existing-home sales declined 3.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.48 million in February, the National Association of Realtors reported. However, economists were expecting a 5.57 million rate.

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