Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.20 percent to 16,462.45 while the NASDAQ surged 0.41 percent to 4,370.65. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.22 percent to 1,924.49.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
In trading on Wednesday, basic materials shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 0.93 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Aluminum Corporation Of China (NYSE: ACH), AuRico Gold (NYSE: AUQ), and Coeur Mining (NYSE: CDE).
Utilities shares fell by 0.78 percent in Wednesday’s trading. Meanwhile, top decliners in the sector included Ormat Technologies (NYSE: ORA), down 3.8 percent, and AGL Resources (NYSE: GAS), off 3.1 percent.
Top Headline
Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB) reported weaker-than-expected fiscal third-quarter earnings.
The New York-based company posted quarterly earnings of $610 million, or $1.40 per share, versus $643 million, or $1.31 per share, in the year-ago period. Its adjusted earnings per share rose 10% to $1.42, missing analysts’ estimates of $1.44 per share.
Its revenue declined 7% to $3.42 billion from $3.693 billion, versus expectations of $3.56 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Criteo SA (NASDAQ: CRTO) shares shot up 6.52 percent to $31.53 after the company reported record Q2 results and raised its full-year forecast.
Shares of Itron (NASDAQ: ITRI) got a boost, shooting up 9.53 percent to $39.87 after the company reported Q2 earnings of $0.54 per share on revenue of $489.40 million.
Twenty-First Century Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA) shares were also up, gaining 5.14 percent to $32.91 after the company announced Tuesday that it is withdrawing its bid for Time Warner (NYSE: TWX). Instead, the company’s board authorized a $6 billion share repurchase program.
Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Rocket Fuel (NASDAQ: FUEL) were down 27.27 percent to $18.00 after the company reported a Q2 loss of $0.11 per share on revenue of $92.60 million. Rocket Fuel also announced the acquisition of [x+1] for $230 million.
Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE: NUS) shares tumbled 22.75 percent to $44.74 after the company reported downbeat quarterly results and issued a weak forecast.
Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) was down, falling 15.97 percent to $5.94 after the company reported downbeat revenue for the second quarter and issued a weak earnings forecast for the current quarter.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.16 percent to $97.22, while gold traded up 1.77 percent to $1,308.00.
Silver traded up 1.07 percent Wednesday to $20.05, while copper fell 1.17 percent to $3.17.
Eurozone
European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.88 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index dropped 1.04 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index tumbled 2.70 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX fell 0.65 percent and the French CAC 40 declined 0.61 percent while UK shares dipped 0.69 percent.
Economics
The MBA reported that its index of mortgage application activity gained 1.6% in the week ended August 1.
The US trade deficit declined 7% to $41.5 billion in June, versus a slightly revised $44.7 billion in May. However, economists were expecting a deficit of $45 billion.
Crude-oil supplies dropped 1.8 million barrels in the week ended August 1, according to the Energy Information Administration. Gasoline inventories declined 4.4 million, while distillates stockpiles dropped 1.8 million. However, analysts were estimating crude oil stocks to fall 1.9 million barrels.
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