Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.69 percent to 21,458.30 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.22 percent to
6,221.81. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.89 percent to 2,440.80.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Basic materials shares rose by 1.65 percent in the US market on Wednesday. Top gainers in the sector included Koppers
Holdings Inc. (NYSE: KOP), Olympic Steel, Inc.
(NASDAQ: ZEUS), and Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc.
(NASDAQ: SCHN).
In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares rose by just 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Pure Cycle
Corporation (NASDAQ: PCYO), down 1 percent, and
NiSource Inc. (NYSE: NI), down 1 percent.
Top Headline
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) posted upbeat
earnings for its fourth quarter on Wednesday.
General Mills posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.73 on revenue of $3.81 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings
of $0.71 on revenue of $3.75 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Shoe Carnival, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCVL) shares shot up
8 percent to $21.09. Sidoti upgraded Shoe Carnival from Neutral to Buy.
Shares of United Microelectronics Corp (ADR) (NYSE: UMC) got a boost, shooting up 12 percent to $2.36. UBS upgraded United
Microelectronics from Neutral to Buy.
Spectranetics Corp (NASDAQ: SPNC) shares were also
up, gaining 26 percent to $38.42. Koninklijke Philips NV (ADR) (NYSE: PHG) announced plans to acquire Spectranetics for $38.50 per share.
Equities Trading DOWN
DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) shares dropped 20
percent to $2.05 after surging 9.21 percent on Tuesday. DryShips reported successful delivery of newbuilding Very Large Cas
Carrier. The company projects gross backlog associated with time charter of up to $92.7 million.
Shares of Meridian Waste Solutions Inc (NASDAQ: MRDN) were down 31 percent to $1.68. Meridian Waste Solutions reported the pricing
of its public offering.
EZCORP Inc (NASDAQ: EZPW) was down, falling around
15 percent to $7.75. EZCORP reported a private offering of $125 million of convertible senior notes due 2024.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 1.02 percent to $44.69 while gold traded up 0.23 percent to $1,249.80.
Silver traded up 0.89 percent Wednesday to $16.80, while copper rose 0.51 percent to $2.675.
Eurozone
European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 declined 0.04 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.51
percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 1.24 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.67 percent, and the French CAC 40
slipped 0.11 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.63 percent.
Economics
The MBA’s index of mortgage application activity declined 6.2 percent for the week ending June 23, 2017.
U.S. trade deficit fell 1.8 percent to $65.9 billion in May. Wholesale inventories rose 0.3 percent in May.
The pending home sales index declined 0.8 percent for May, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.8 percent growth.
Domestic crude supplies increased 118,000 barrels for the week ended June 23, the U.S. Energy Information Administration
reported. However, analysts were expecting a drop of 2.58 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles slipped 894,000 barrels, while
distillate stockpiles dropped 223,000 barrels last week.
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