Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Rises 50 Points; Logitech Shares Gain On Earnings Beat

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.28 percent to 18,219.95 while the NASDAQ declined 0.20 percent to 5,272.77. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.02 percent to 2,143.62.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Wednesday, cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained by 0.28 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. MCRI, and Marine Products Corp. MPX.

In trading on Wednesday, basic materials shares fell by 0.4 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Allegheny Technologies Incorporated ATI, down 5 percent, and Eldorado Gold Corp (USA) EGO, down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Boeing Co BA delivered better than expected results for the third quarter.

The company reported 39 percent jump in core EPS to $3.51, topping estimates by $0.89 per share. Its revenue dropped 8 percent to $23.898 billion, beating expectations by $0.258 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Socket Mobile, Inc. SCKT shares shot up 18 percent to $3.32. Socket Mobile reported Q3 earnings of $0.11 per share on revenue of $5.1 million.

Shares of Logitech International SA (USA) LOGI got a boost, shooting up 17 percent to $25.06 on upbeat quarterly results.

Akamai Technologies, Inc. AKAM shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $67.83 after the company posted upbeat quarterly results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Rocket Fuel Inc FUEL shares dropped 15 percent to $2.45. Rocket Fuel reported Q3 non-GAAP loss of $0.08 per share on revenue of $62.6 million. The company named Stephen Snyder as CFO.

Shares of Diplomat Pharmacy Inc DPLO were down 12 percent to $25.31. Diplomat Pharmacy named Paul Urick as President, while Gary Kadlec will retire on December 31, 2016. The company also disclosed that Sean Whelan will step down as CFO.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp EW was down, falling around 13 percent to $98.79 on weak sales for the third quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.54 percent to $49.69 while gold traded down 0.34 percent to $1,269.30.

Silver traded down 0.51 percent Wednesday to $17.69, while copper rose 0.16 percent to $2.14.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.38 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.31 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.37 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.39 percent, and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.99 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.93 percent.

Economics

New home sales rose 3.1 percent to an annual rate of 593,000 in September.

The Markit services PMI rose to 54.80 in October, versus a prior reading of 52.30. Economists expected a reading of 52.30.

Crude supplies dropped 600,000 barrels for the week ended October 21, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 400,000 barrels. Gasoline supplies dropped 2 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell 3.4 million barrels.

The Treasury will also auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.