Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Armstrong Flooring Drops After Q2 Results; Myokardia Shares Climb

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.11 percent to 22,115.91 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.42 percent to 6,378.00. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.09 percent to 2,479.07.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Monday afternoon, the basic materials sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Eldorado Gold Corp (USA) EGO and Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (ADR) SID.

In trading on Monday, energy shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.35 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Atwood Oceanics, Inc. ATW, down 6 percent, and Unit Corporation UNT, down 8 percent.

Top Headline

Tyson Foods, Inc. TSN reported stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter.

Tyson reported Q3 adjusted earnings of $1.28 per share, on sales of $9.85 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.18 on revenue of $9.48 billion.

Tyson now expects FY17 adjusted earnings of $4.95 to $5.05 per share, versus earlier forecast of $4.90 to $5.05 per share.

Equities Trading UP

Myokardia Inc MYOK shares shot up 85 percent to $31.75. MyoKardia posted a Q2 loss of $0.41 per share on sales of $5.63 million. The company reported 'positive' topline results in Phase 2 PIONEER-HCM study.

Shares of NxStage Medical, Inc. NXTM got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $29.67. Fresenius Medical Care announced plans to acquire NxStage Medical for $30.00 per share in cash.

Acorn International, Inc. (ADR) ATV shares were also up, gaining 27 percent to $12.38. Acorn disclosed that it entered into a settlement agreement in lawsuit against former directors on July 28th.

Equities Trading DOWN

Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Inc ZYNE shares dropped 58 percent to $6.34 after the company announced that its transdermal synthetic cannabinoid treatment for epilepsy, ZYN002, didn’t demonstrate a statistically significant reduction in median seizure frequency.

Shares of Gemphire Therapeutics Inc GEMP were down 44 percent to $10.37 after the company reported top-line data from ROYAL-1 Phase 2b trial.

Armstrong Flooring Inc AFI was down, falling around 17 percent to $14.33 as the company posted weaker-than-expected Q2 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.79 percent to $49.19 while gold traded down 0.01 percent to $1,264.50.

Silver traded down 0.04 percent Monday to $16.245, while copper rose 0.78 percent to $2.9075.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.14 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.17 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index gained 0.43 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX declined 0.33 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.09 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.27 percent.

Economics

The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index rose to 133.77 in July, versus a previous revised reading 132.42.

Data on consumer credit for June will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.