Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; Korn/Ferry Beats Q4 Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.02 percent to 25,324.70 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.28 percent to 7,725.19. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.07 percent to 2,788.73.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the utilities shares surged 0.82 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included TerraForm Power, Inc. TERP up 5 percent, and Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. FGP up 4 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell 0.32 percent.

Top Headline

Korn/Ferry International KFY reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter on Wednesday.

Korn/Ferry posted quarterly earnings of $0.80 per share on revenue of $488.364 million. However, analysts were expecting a loss of $0.70 per share on revenue of $458.38 million.

Korn/Ferry expects Q1 earnings of $0.67 to $0.75 per share on fee sales of $450 million to $470 million. Analysts project earnings of $0.66 per share on sales of $435.10 million.

Equities Trading UP

Enphase Energy, Inc. ENPH shares shot up 32 percent to $5.95 after the company announced plans to acquire Sunpower’s Microinverter business for $25 million and 7.5 million shares of common stock.

Shares of Pivotal Software, Inc. PVTL got a boost, shooting up 22 percent to $25.93 trading after reporting strong Q1 results.

Sharing Economy International Inc. SEII shares were also up, gaining 25 percent to $4.41 as the company disclosed that it has entered into a license agreement to establish ECrent website platform in North Korea.

Equities Trading DOWN

Flex Pharma, Inc. FLKS shares dropped 67 percent to $1.37 after the company reported plans to stop FLX-787 Phase 2 clinical programs in ALS & CMT. Flex Pharma said due to these announcements, the company will reduce its workforce by 60 percent.

Shares of scPharmaceuticals Inc. SCPH were down 23 percent to $5.835 after the company received a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the FDA for FUROSCIX.

H&R Block, Inc. HRB was down, falling around 19 percent to $24.10. H & R Block reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter and raised its quarterly dividend from $0.24 per share to $0.25 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.50 percent to $66.03 while gold traded down 0.10 percent to $1,298.10.

Silver traded up 0.29 percent Wednesday to $16.94, while copper fell 0.02 to $3.249.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.37 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.07 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.95 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.38 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.27 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.47 percent.

Economics

The Producer Price Index rose 0.5 percent for May, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent increase.

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

The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET..

The Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.