Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Surges Over 1%; Bed Bath & Beyond Shares Slip On Lowered Q3 Outlook

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 1.02 percent to 17,594.96 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.89 percent to 5,045.61. The S&P also rose, gaining 1.25 percent to 2,064.43. Leading and Lagging Sectors On Wednesday, energy shares surged by 4.19 percent. Top gainers in the sector included EV Energy Partners, L.P. EVEP, Baytex Energy Corp (USA) BTE, and Denbury Resources Inc. DNR. In trading on Wednesday, technology shares gained by just 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included ShoreTel Inc SHOR, down 6 percent, and The9 Limited (ADR) NCTY, down 5 percent. Top Headline Nike Inc NKE reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal second quarter on Tuesday. The sporting products company reported quarterly earnings of $0.90 per share, on revenue of $7.686 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.86 per share on revenue of $7.81 billion. Equities Trading UP Adamas Pharmaceuticals Inc ADMS shares shot up 60 percent to $26.97 after the company announced positive top-line Phase 3 results of ADS-5102 for patients with Parkinson's Disease. Shares of Rovi Corporation ROVI got a boost, shooting up 27 percent to $14.46. Rovi and AT&T Inc. T reported a deal for seven-year renewal and expansion of license agreement. Cliffs Natural Resources Inc CLF shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $1.71. Cliffs Natural reported that it has closed the sale of its remaining North American coal business. Equities Trading DOWN Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc NWBO shares tumbled 20 percent to $3.57 after the company reported a registered direct offering of $12.6 million. Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. MU were down 3 percent to $14.16. Micron reported upbeat earnings for its fiscal first quarter, but the company's revenue missed analysts' estimates. The company also issued a weak forecast for the current quarter. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. BBBY was down, falling 4 percent to $49.24 after the company lowered its earnings outlook for the third quarter. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 3.85 percent to $37.53, while gold traded down 0.53 percent to $1,068.40. Silver traded down 0.17 percent Wednesday to $14.29, while copper rose 0.90 percent to $2.13. Eurozone European shares closed higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 jumped 2.67 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index jumped 2.39 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index rose 1.88 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 2.28 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 2.34 percent, while U.K. shares rose 2.60 percent. Economics Orders for durable goods came in flat in November, after a 2.9 percent gain in October. US consumer spending increased 0.3 percent in November, while personal income rose 0.3 percent in the month. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 92.60 in December, versus a prior reading of 91.80. However, economists were expecting a reading of 92.00. Crude inventories declined 5.88 million barrels for the week ended December 18, the Energy Information Administration said. Analysts were expecting a gain of 1.08 million barrels.