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Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Up Over 3%; Qudian Shares Spike Higher

CRC, DE, FL, SCPX

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.64 percent to 24,622.45 while the NASDAQ climbed 1.46 percent to 7,009.62. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.80 percent to 2,663.03.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the energy shares climbed 2.5 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included California Resources Corporation (NYSE: CRC) up 22 percent, and Ultra Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: UPL) up 12 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 1.5 percent.

Top Headline

Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) reported weaker-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.

Deere posted quarterly earnings of $2.30 per share on revenue of $8.34 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $2.45 per share on revenue of $8.58 billion.

 

Equities Trading UP

Ability Inc (NASDAQ: ABIL) shares got a boost, shooting up 134 percent to $6.5859 after the company announced the acquisition of a company which supplies and develops licenses Ultimate Interception for $1 million.

Shares of Qudian Inc. (NYSE: QD) shot up 21 percent to $5.19 after the company reported Q3 results. Qudian reported Q3 adjusted earnings of $0.32 per share on sales of $280.855 million.

Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE: FL) shares were also up, gaining 15 percent to $52.77 after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its third quarter on Tuesday.

 

Equities Trading DOWN

Heat Biologics Inc (NASDAQ: HTBX) shares dropped 31 percent to $1.41 after reporting an offering of common shares and warrants.

Shares of Zion Oil & Gas, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZN) were down 57 percent to $0.5093 after the company issued a press release highlighting Megiddo-Jezreel #1 well was determined to be not commercially productive.

Sphere 3D Corp (NASDAQ: ANY) was down, falling around 33 percent to $4.45 after jumping 144.81 percent on Tuesday.

 

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 3.13 percent to $55.10 while gold traded up 0.51 percent to $1,227.40.

Silver traded up 1.51 percent Wednesday to $14.485, while copper rose 0.99 percent to $2.804.

 

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 climbed 1.14 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index gained 1.06 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index jumped 1.41 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 1.61 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 1.03 percent while U.K. shares rose 1.47 percent.

Economics

U.S. durable goods orders fell 4.4 percent for October, versus economists’ expectations for a 2.2 percent decline.

U.S. initial jobless claims rose 3,000 to 224,000 for the latest week. However, economists projected a 215,000 reading.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index declined to 97.5 for November, versus a prior reading of 98.6.

U.S. existing home sales rose 1.4 percent at an annual rate of 5.22 million for October.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.1 percent for October.

Domestic crude supplies rose 4.85 million barrels for the week ended November 16, the Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a gain of 2.5 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles dropped 1.29 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles slipped 77,000 barrels last week.

Domestic supplies of natural gas dropped 134 billion cubic feet for the week ended November 16, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Analysts projected a fall of 105 billion cubic feet.

The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 3 to 885 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.