Mid-Afternoon Market Update: NASDAQ Down Over 2.5%; Clementia Pharmaceuticals Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.89 percent to 24,967.51 while the NASDAQ declined 2.56 percent to 7,246.88. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.53 percent to 2,698.79.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the utilities shares gained 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Korea Electric Power Corporation KEP up 5 percent, and Chesapeake Utilities Corporation CPK up 5 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, communication services shares tumbled 1.6 percent.

Top Headline

Boeing Co BA reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter and raised its FY18 guidance.

Boeing said it earned $3.58 per share in the quarter on revenue of $25.146 billion, which was better than the $3.52 per share and $24.6 billion analysts were expecting.

Boeing now expects FY18 core earnings of $14.90 to $15.10 per share on sales of $98 billion to $100 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Clementia Pharmaceuticals Inc. CMTA shares shot up 41 percent to $14.575 after the company announced it plans to resubmit an NDA for palovarotene based on Phase 2 clinical results.

Shares of trivago N.V. TRVG got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $5.89 after reporting results for its third quarter.

K12 Inc. LRN shares were also up, gaining 34 percent to $23.235 after reporting strong results for its first quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

Travelzoo TZOO shares dropped 30 percent to $8.10 after the company missed Q3 earnings estimates.

Shares of Noodles & Company NDLS were down 23 percent to $9.80. Noodles reported in-line earnings for its third quarter. Comps were up 5.5 percent in the quarter. The company announced a secondary offering of 8.75 million shares of common stock.

The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited NTB was down, falling around 23 percent to $39.16 after the company reported downbeat Q3 earnings.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.53 percent to $66.78 while gold traded down 0.3 percent to $1,233.10.

Silver traded down 0.66 percent Wednesday to $14.695, while copper fell 0.13 to $2.7545.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.22 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.56 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 1.69 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.73 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.29 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.11 percent.

Economics

The flash IHS Markit’s manufacturing PMI climbed to 55.9 for October, versus prior reading of 55.6. The flash services PMI gained to 54.7 versus a reading of 53.5 for September.

New home sales fell 5.5 percent for September at an annual rate of 553,000.

Domestic crude supplies increased 6.3 million barrels for the week ended October 19, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of of 3.3 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles dropped 4.8 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell 2.3 million barrels last week.

The Federal Open Market Committee released its latest Beige Book report.

US Federal Reserve Bank Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak in New York at 7:00 p.m. ET.