Mid-Day Market Update: Crude Oil Down Over 2%; T2 Biosystems Shares Spike Higher

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.13% to 26943.11 while the NASDAQ rose 0.54% to 8128.09. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.22% to 2,985.85.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares climbed 0.8% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Just Energy Group Inc. JE, up 13%, and Spark Energy, Inc. SPKE, up 6%.

In trading on Wednesday, real estate shares fell 0.3%.

Top Headline

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc PLAY reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter, but lowered its 2019 sales guidance.

Second-quarter earnings came in at 90 cents per share, beating estimates by 6 cents. Sales came in at $344.599 million, beating estimates by $309,000.

The company cut 2019 sales guidance from $1.365 billion-$1.390 billion to $1.34 billion-$1.36 billion and sees comps down 2%-3.5%.

Equities Trading UP

T2 Biosystems, Inc. TTOO shares shot up 55% to $2.2155 after the company announced that it has been awarded a breakthrough technology contract with Premier. Premier's members will receive special pricing and access to T2 Biosystems' T2Bacteria Panel and T2Candida Panel.

Shares of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. LXRX got a boost, shooting up 30% to $2.2301 after the company announced the termination of its alliance and settlement with Sanofi. Sanofi must pay the company $260 million.

Yuma Energy, Inc. YUMA shares were also up, gaining 157% to $4.67 after the company announced a third-party has purchased all of the company's outstanding senior secured bank debt and related liabilities for approximately $35 million.

Equities Trading DOWN

Top Ships Inc. TOPS shares tumbled 46% to $4.45 after the company priced 1.58 million share common stock offering at $6.30 per share.

Shares of Zscaler, Inc. ZS were down 23% to $47.44 after the company issued FY20 EPS guidance below analyst estimates.

Farmer Bros. Co. FARM was down, falling 20% to $11.21 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS and sales results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 2.2% to $56.15, while gold traded up 0.3% to $1,503.30.

Silver traded down 0.1% Wednesday to $18.185, while copper fell 0.8% to $2.606.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.85%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.21%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.1%. Meanwhile, the German DAX rose 0.74% and the French CAC 40 gained 0.44% while UK shares rose 0.96%.

Economics

The Producer Price Index increased 0.1% for August.

U.S. wholesale inventories increased 0.2% for July.

U.S. crude supplies dropped 6.9 million barrels for the week ended September 6, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a decline of 3.6 million barrels. Gasoline supplies fell 700,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose 2.7 million barrels.

The Treasury will auction 10-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.