Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Crude Oil Down Over 1%; Synchronoss Technologies Shares Slide

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.23 percent to 22,382.86 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.14 percent to 6,463.44. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.14 percent to 2,507.40.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the telecommunications services shares surged 0.87 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included ATN International Inc ATNI, up 3 percent, and Mobil'nye Telesistemy PAO (ADR) MBT, up 3 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, healthcare shares fell 0.48 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included MannKind Corporation MNKD, down 10 percent, and BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. BDSI down 10 percent.

Top Headline

AutoZone, Inc. AZO reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

AutoZone posted Q4 adjusted earnings of $15.18 per share on revenue of $3.51 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $15.11 per share on sales of $3.49 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Steelcase Inc. SCS shares shot up 5 percent to $15 as the company reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

Shares of Nabriva Therapeutics plc NBRV got a boost, shooting up 10 percent to $9.71. Nabriva Therapeutics announced a $80 million common stock offering.

Quidel Corporation QDEL shares were also up, gaining 8 percent to $44.31. Piper Jaffray upgraded Quidel from Neutral to Overweight.

Equities Trading DOWN

Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. SNCR shares dropped 39 percent to $10.27 after Siris Capital disclosed that it is no longer interested in an all cash takeover of the company. Synchronoss Technologies said that it continues to explore full range of alternatives, including sale.

Shares of Mediwound Ltd MDWD were down 17 percent to $5.03. Mediwound priced its 4,400,000 offering of ordinary shares at $5 per share.

Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc ALDX was down, falling around 20 percent to $7.30. Aldeyra Therapeutics reported proposed public offering of common stock.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 1.10 percent to $49.36 while gold traded down 0.05 percent to $1,310.20.

Silver traded up 0.66 percent Tuesday to $17.27, while copper fell 0.01 percent to $2.969.

Eurozone

European shares closed higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.04 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.39 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.27 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX climbed 0.30 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.16 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.30 percent.

Economics

The Federal Open Market Committee begins its two-day policy meeting today.

U.S. housing starts declined 0.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.18 million in August, compared to revised 1.19 million in July. Building permits increased 5.70 percent for August.

The U.S. current-account deficit climbed 8.5 percent to $123.1 billion in the second quarter.

The import price index rose 0.6 percent for August.

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 0.1 percent during the first three weeks of September versus August.