Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Monsanto Slides Following Lowered Forecast; Darling Ingredients Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.15 percent to 16,839.43 while the NASDAQ declined 0.23 percent to 4,678.60. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.01 percent to 1,978.13. Leading and Lagging Sectors On Wednesday, basic materials shares rose by 1.85 percent. Top gainers in the sector included LSB Industries, Inc. LXU, United States Steel Corporation X, and AK Steel Holding Corporation AKS. In trading on Wednesday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares fell by 0.30 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Kona Grill Inc KONA, down 14 percent, and Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation BGFV, down 10 percent. Top Headline Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter. Abercrombie & Fitch's quarterly net income surged 30.1 percent to $57.7 million. Excluding items, the company earned $1.08 per share. Its net sales slipped 0.6 percent to $1.11 billion, while sales at stores open at least 12 months increased 1 percent in the quarter. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.99 per share on revenue of $1.10 billion. Equities Trading UP Everyday Health Inc EVDY shares shot up 24 percent to $5.76 on stronger-than-expected Q4 results. Shares of Checkpoint Systems, Inc. CKP got a boost, shooting up 29 percent to $10.18 after the company agreed to be acquired by CCL Industries for $10.15 per share in cash. Darling Ingredients Inc DAR shares were also up, gaining 26 percent to $11.51. Darling Ingredients reported Q4 earnings of $0.54 per share on revenue of $809.7 million. Equities Trading DOWN Kona Grill Inc KONA shares dropped 13 percent to $13.14. Kona Grill reported a Q4 loss of $0.18 per share on restaurant sales of $38.066 million. Shares of Monsanto Company MON were down 8 percent to $85.51 after the company lowered its full-year profit forecast. Northwest Pipe Company NWPX was down, falling around 17 percent to $8.67. Northwest Pipe reported a Q4 loss of $1.43 per share on revenue of $45.6 million. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 0.20 percent to $34.47, while gold traded up 0.87 percent to $1,241.50. Silver traded up 1.79 percent Wednesday to $15.02, while copper rose 1.40 percent to $2.18. Eurozone European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.66 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index climbed 1.78 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index jumped 1.08 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 0.61 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.41 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.09 percent. Economics US private sector added 214,000 jobs in February, according to ADP. However, economists were expecting an addition of 185,000 jobs. Crude oil supplies gained 10.4 million barrels for the week ended February 26, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a rise of 2.5 million barrels. Gasoline supplies slipped 1.5 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose 2.9 million barrels last week. The Federal Open Market Committee released its Beige Book report.