Mid-Day Market Update: Vericel Surges On Awaited FDA Approval; Proteon Therapeutics Shares Drop

Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.09 percent to 19,893.63 while the NASDAQ declined 0.08 percent to 5,459.48. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.16 percent to 2,267.99.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained around 0.35 percent in trading on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.40 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. ANW, down 12 percent, and Tidewater Inc. TDW, down 8 percent.

Top Headline

Nordson Corporation NDSN reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Tuesday.

Nordson reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $1.39 per share on revenue of $ $509.3 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.24 per share on revenue of $482 million.

Equities Trading UP

Vericel Corp VCEL shares shot up 54 percent to $4.01. Vericel is currently developing MACI, a third-generation autologous chondrocyte implant and ixmyelocel-T, which is a patient-specific multicellular therapy. On Tuesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it has approved Maci, which marks the first FRDA-approved product that applies the process of tissue engineering to grow cells on scaffolds using healthy cartilage tissue from the patient's own knee.

Shares of Neustar Inc NSR got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $33.03 as the company agreed to be acquired for $33.50 per share in cash by a private investment group led by Golden Gate Capital.

Global Eagle Entertainment Inc ENT shares were also up, gaining 19 percent to $7.67 on supply & services agreement with Southwest Airlines Co LUV.

Equities Trading DOWN

Proteon Therapeutics Inc PRTO shares dropped 15 percent to $2.12. JMP Securities, Raymond James and Cowen downgraded Proteon Therapeutics to Market Perform. On Tuesday, Proteon Therapeutics disclosed that it did not meet primary endpoint in PATENCY-1 trial.

Shares of First NBC Bank Holding Company FNBC were down 14 percent to $8.23. FBR Capital downgraded First NBC Bank from Market Perform to Underperform.

Merus Labs International Inc (USA) MSLI was down, falling around 14 percent to $0.890. Merus Labs posted Q4 adjusted EBITDA of $11.6 million and gross basis revenue of $34.3 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.87 percent to $53.47 while gold traded up 0.56 percent to $1,165.50.

Silver traded up 1.40 percent Wednesday to $17.22, while copper fell 0.10 percent to $2.60.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 slipped 0.42 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.08 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.99 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.29 percent, and the French CAC 40 declined 0.67 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.17 percent.

Economics

The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity dropped 4 percent for the latest week.

The producer-price index increased 0.4 percent in November, beating economists’ estimates for 0.1 percent growth.

U.S. retail sales rose 0.1 percent in November, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.3 percent growth.

U.S. industrial production declined 0.4 percent in November, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent drop.

U.S. business inventories declined 0.20 percent for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.10 percent drop.

Crude supplies dropped 2.56 million barrels for the week ended December 9, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts were expecting a drop of 1.47 million barrels. Gasoline supplies increased 500,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 760,000 barrels.

The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The Fed Chair Janet Yellen will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.