Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.12 percent to 18,150.47 while the NASDAQ gained 0.02 percent to 5,247.80. The
S&P also rose, gaining 0.14 percent 2,139.81.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
On Wednesday, non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares gained by 0.38 percent.
In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 0.58 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Hornbeck Offshore
Services, Inc. (NYSE: HOS), down 7 percent, and BP
Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust (NYSE: BPT), down 4 percent.
Top Headline
Newell Brands Inc (NYSE: NWL) disclosed a definitive
agreement with Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE: SWK)
to divest its tools unit for about $1.95 billion.
The companies expect the transaction to be completed in the first half of next year subject to regulatory approvals.
Newell Brands indicated that the sale proceeds would be utilized to pay down its debt in line with the objective of achieving a
3–3.5 times EBITDA leverage ratio before the year 2018 ends.
Equities Trading UP
VOXX International Corp (NASDAQ: VOXX) shares shot
up 29 percent to $3.30. VOXX reported Q2 earnings of $0.12 per share on sales of $159.3 million.
Shares of HTG Molecular Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ: HTGM) got a boost, shooting up 53 percent to $3.46. HTG Molecular Diagnostics and
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany disclosed that they have entered into a master companion diagnostics agreement.
Barracuda Networks Inc (NYSE: CUDA) shares were also
up, gaining 13 percent to $26.27 after the company posted stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter on Tuesday.
Equities Trading DOWN
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC)
shares dropped 21 percent to $5.57 after the company issued a profit warning for the third quarter.
Shares of Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ: FTNT) were down 12
percent to $30.02 after the company lowered its outlook for the third quarter on Tuesday.
IEC Electronics Corp (NYSE: IEC) was down, falling
around 19 percent to $4.14. IEC Electronics confirmed workforce reduction of 73 employees.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.09 percent to $50.68 while gold traded down 0.18 percent to $1,253.60.
Silver traded down 0.19 percent Wednesday to $17.48, while copper fell 0.05 percent to $2.18.
Eurozone
European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.38 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.01 percent,
while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.07 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.51 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped
0.42 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.65 percent.
Economics
Job openings dropped to 5.44 million in August, according to government data. However, economists were expecting job opening to
reach 5.72 million in the month.
The Treasury is set to auction 3-and 10-year notes at 1:00 a.m. ET.
The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.
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