Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Falls Over 300 Points; American Eagle Shares Drop On Downbeat Earnings

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 1.51 percent to 20,663.65 while the NASDAQ declined 2.17 percent to 6,036.29. The S&P also fell, dropping 1.55 percent to 2,363.55.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector was the top gainer in the US market on Wednesday.

In trading on Wednesday, financial shares fell 1.72 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Whitestone REIT WSR, down 8 percent, and Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. SNCR, down 7 percent.

Top Headline

Target Corporation TGT reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter.

Target, the second-largest discount retailer in the U.S., earned $1.21 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $16.02 billion; Analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.91 per share on revenue of $15.62 billion.

Net earnings for the quarter rose from $632 million a year ago to $681 million, while comparable sales fell just 1.3 percent; Analysts were expecting a decrease as much as -3.7 percent. Target guided its second-quarter earnings per share to a range of $0.95 to $1.15 versus $1.00 per share Wall Street analysts were already expecting.

Equities Trading UP

Cemtrex Inc CETX shares shot up 29 percent to $4.07 after the company disclosed that it has received over $21 million in new orders in April.

Shares of Syndax Pharmaceuticals Inc SNDX got a boost, shooting up 32 percent to $12.40 after the company reported the advancement of ENCORE 601 in non-small cell lung cancer patients with disease progression on or after PD-1 therapies.

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. RRGB shares were also up, gaining 19 percent to $68.85 as the company reported upbeat results for its first quarter.

Equities Trading DOWN

bebe stores, inc. BEBE shares dropped 26 percent to $3.86. bebe stores will reportedly license www.bebe.com domain name, social media accts. and international wholesale agreements to one or more third parties, according to Reuters.

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters AEO were down 12 percent to $11.35 after the company posted downbeat quarterly earnings and issued a weak earnings forecast for the current quarter.

Photronics, Inc. PLAB was down, falling around 10 percent to $10.42 after the company reported downbeat Q2 results and issued a weak forecast for the current quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.03 percent to $49.16 while gold traded up 1.72 percent to $1,257.70.

Silver traded up 0.88 percent Wednesday to $16.895, while copper fell 0.08 percent to $2.5485.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.20 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index declined 1.79 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 2.31 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 1.35 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 1.63 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.25 percent.

Economics

Domestic crude supplies dropped 1.75 million barrels for the week ended May 12, the U.S. Energy Information Administration Wednesday reported. However, analysts were expecting a decline of 2.36 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles slipped 413,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell 1.94 million barrels last week.