Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Rises 70 Points; RedHill Biopharma Shares Slide

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.31 percent to 22,628.20 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.06 percent to 6,520.37. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.04 percent to 2,530.08.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Tuesday, the non-cyclical consumer goods & services shares surged 0.46 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, healthcare shares fell 0.38 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SCMP, down 9 percent, and Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. RIGL down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Paychex, Inc. PAYX reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Tuesday.

Paychex reported Q1 adjusted earnings of $0.62 per share on sales of $816.8 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.60 per share on sales of $816.30 million.

Equities Trading UP

Endocyte, Inc. ECYT shares shot up 56 percent to $5.64 following 157 percent rally on Monday amid news of global license for PSMA-617. Wedbush upgraded Endocyte from Neutral to Outperform.

Shares of Cesca Therapeutics Inc KOOL got a boost, shooting up 39 percent to $5.00 after the company reported an allowance for US Patent application covering a novel method of cell separation.

SG Blocks, Inc. SGBX shares were also up, gaining 23 percent to $5.30 as the company reported securing of 2 low-income housing development projects in the NY State.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tile Shop Hldgs, Inc. TTS shares dropped 35 percent to $8.55 after the company issued weak forecast for the third quarter. The company expects Q3 sales to rise 7 percent to $84 million. Comparable store sales are projected to increase 1 percent in the quarter. Telsey Advisory Group downgraded Tile Shop from Market Perform to Underperform.

Shares of RedHill Biopharma Ltd - ADR RDHL were down 12 percent to $9.62 after the company issued top-line results from Phase II study of BEKINDA in patients with IBS-D.

Aegion Corp AEGN was down, falling around 12 percent to $20.81 after the company issued an update on strategic actions. Craig-Hallum downgraded Aegion from Buy to Hold.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.22 percent to $50.47 while gold traded up 0.09 percent to $1,276.90.

Silver traded up 0.16 percent Tuesday to $16.68, while copper rose 0.41 percent to $2.9675.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.11 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.16 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.14 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.58 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.36 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.34 percent.

Economics

The Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index rose 4.1 percent year-over-year during September.