Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Tile Shop Drops On Weak Sales Forecast; Endocyte Shares Spike Higher

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.35 percent to 22,637.08 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.15 percent to 6,526.74. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.15 percent to 2,532.96.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Tuesday afternoon, the basic materials shares surged 0.59 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (ADR) SID, up 9 percent, and Gerdau SA (ADR) GGB, up 4 percent.

In trading on Tuesday, utilities shares fell 0.25 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Atlantic Power Corp AT, down 2 percent, and PNM down 2 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 51 percent to $5.47 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 35 percent to $4.85 following an announcement from the company that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issuing a notice of allowance regarding its pending application for a patent covering its Buoyancy-Activated Cell Separation, or BACS technology.

Vical Incorporated VICL shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $3.02 after the company reported receipt of FDA approval for VL-2397 for Limited Use Indication.

Equities Trading DOWN

Tile Shop Hldgs, Inc. TTS shares dropped 35 percent to $8.57 after the company cautioned investors that its third-quarter sales will likely fall short of investor expectations. 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 13 percent to $9.41 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 10 percent to $21.30 after the company issued an update on strategic actions. Craig-Hallum downgraded Aegion from Buy to Hold.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.28 percent to $50.44 while gold traded down 0.09 percent to $1,274.70.

Silver traded down 0.02 percent Tuesday to $16.65, while copper rose 0.17 percent to $2.9605.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 rose 0.15 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.02 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.12 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.58 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.32 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.39 percent.

Economics

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