Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Hooker Furniture Falls Following Downbeat Earnings; Immuron Shares Gain

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.25% to 25984.60 while the NASDAQ fell 0.44% to 7,788.33. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.25% to 2,878.59.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares rose 1.2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Pampa Energía S.A. PAM 8.51%, up 9%, and Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte Sociedad Anónima EDN 9.81%, up 11%.

In trading on Wednesday, energy shares fell by 1.4%.

Top Headline

Online financial news publication TheStreet, Inc. TST 6.51% will be acquired by Maven for $16.5 million in cash.

Seattle-based Maven is a coalition of Mavens, including individual thought-leaders to world-leading independent publishers, operating on a shared digital publishing, advertising, and distribution platform and unified under a single media brand.

Equities Trading UP

Immuron Limited IMRN 19.93% shares shot up 21% to $3.65 after the company announced the US Department of Defense reported final results from the Travelan shigellosis challenge study; the drug prevented clinical shigellosis in 75% of treated animals.

Shares of Synlogic, Inc. SYBX 23.6% got a boost, shooting up 28% to $8.03 after the company received an $80 million equity investment from Ginkgo. The companies will enter a long-term strategic collaboration to develop synthetic biotic medicines.

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. NASDAQCRWD shares were also up, gaining 82% to $62.00 after pricing its IPO at $34 per share.

Equities Trading DOWN

Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. PLAY 22.76% shares tumbled 22% to $40.27 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 sales results. The company also cut its FY19 guidance.

Shares of Hooker Furniture Corporation HOFT 22.43% were down 22% to $21.00 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS results.

Globus Maritime Limited GLBS 9.93% was down, falling 9% to $2.65 after reporting first-quarter earnings of $(0.15), up from $(0.48) year-over-year. Sales came in at $3.54 million, down from $3.938 million year over year.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 3% to $51.65, while gold traded up 0.4% to $1,336.80.

Silver traded up 0.1% Wednesday to $14.76, while copper fell 0.8% to $2.651.

Euro zone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.30%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.47%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.71%. Meanwhile, the German DAX slipped 0.33%, and the French CAC 40 fell 0.62% while UK shares fell 0.42%.

Economics

The Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% for May.

U.S. crude supplies rose 2.2 million barrels for the week ended June 7, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting a gain of 80,000 barrels. Gasoline inventories climbed 800,000 barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles slipped 1 million barrels.

The U.S. federal government posted a budget deficit of $208 billion for May, the Treasury Department reported. However, analysts were projecting a deficit of $185.5 billion.